Tag: litter

We’re proud to officially support Starbucks who will be giving away 18,500 reusable cups on Earth Day – 22nd April 2017.

As our supporters will know, we strongly believe in long-term sustainable change. Every day millions of paper cups are used for just minutes before going straight to landfill or becoming litter. They’re manufactured from virgin paper pulp and less than 1% of the estimated 2.5 billion we get through every year are currently recycled.

The reusable cup giveaway is launched in the same week as a new awareness message on cup sleeves ‘Reuse to Reduce’ and accompanies the long-standing 25p discount offered to customers using a reusable cup – an incentive Starbucks has had in place for over a decade.

Testing different approaches to encourage and enable people to use reusable cups is an extremely positive step and we are proud to support efforts to promote reusable cups, and understand what prompts people to make the switch.

It won’t be easy – and will take time – but it’s great to see one of the world’s biggest coffee companies seeking solutions to this challenge.

Simon Redfern, vice president communications for Starbucks Europe, Middle East and Africa said;

“With today’s giveaway we are inviting our customers to try to create a new cup habit and help reduce our impact on the environment. We are continuing our efforts with industry partners to find a sustainable and safe long term solution.”

The reusable cups will be given away in participating stores across Great Britain. To find your nearest store in England, Scotland and Wales please visit: https://www.starbucks.co.uk/store-locator – available whilst stocks last.

Read more here.

‘Westminster . . . we have a problem.” I’m not referring to Brexit negotiations or the pressures on the NHS. It is something seemingly much more mundane, but corrosive to communities all over the country: the deluge of litter and fly-tipping.

When you’re walking or driving this week take extra notice of your surroundings — roadside verges, pavements, parks, high streets. Clean Up Britain’s theory is that people have become so used to seeinglitter and waste that they are now inured to it.

However, councils spend almost £1 billion a year cleaning it up — an appalling waste of taxpayers’ money that could be far better spent on social services, playgrounds and the like.

Today, for the first time, the government has published a national litter strategy. It doesn’t go far enough. Fines for drivers and passengers who throw litter out of vehicles should be at least £200 — the same amount that has recently been introduced for drivers caught using their mobile phones.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble, the “litter minister”, needs to have the courage to do much more to tackle the problem. If he does he will be applauded by the vast majority of citizens who are sick of having their local communities environmentally desecrated. If not, he will deserve contempt.

The problem was well summed-up by Sean Lawson, director of environmental services at Rugby borough council, when giving evidence in parliament: “We often do not associate [litter] widely enough in terms of the impact it has on social cohesion and the economic vitality of areas. We think ‘It’s just litter’. We really do need to shift how we think about litter.” He’s absolutely right.

Apart from making our green and pleasant land a permanent eyesore, litter costs us a fortune to clean up, injures and kills animals that ingest it and discourages investment and tourism. There is a growing body of evidence that it causes depression.

The only sustainable answer to the problem is long-term behavioural change. Much like drink-driving, we need to make littering socially unacceptable. If the government’s promise to leave this land in a better environmental state than it inherited is to mean anything then its national litter strategy cannot turn out to be a damp squib.

Read the original article here.

We’re extremely pleased that the government’s first National Litter Strategy has been published.

Having been working on the National Litter Advisory Group we’re confident that the strategy will create a strong platform from which positive cultural changes can be made.

The strategy states:

‘Our ambition is to be the first generation to leave the natural environment of England in a better state than it found it. We are clear that we must act now to clean up the country and change our culture so that it is no longer acceptable to drop litter.’


There’s a lot to do – pleasingly the strategy is pretty comprehensive. You can read it here.

We’re particularly pleased that, amongst other commitments, the strategy promises to:

– Deliver a world class national anti‐littering campaign
– Review the case for increasing the fixed penalties for littering (and related offences)
– Regulate to allow English councils to fine the keeper of a vehicle from which litter is thrown
– Facilitate strong and consistent anti‐litter education
– Empower local communities to channel their passion for their local environment into positive action
– Recognise and reward the contribution of volunteers to tackling litter
– Support the packaging industry in improving product and packaging design to deter littering
– Support national clear‐up days

And so the important first step is taken. We’re determined that the strategy will set the framework for fundamental change – change which will hugely benefit our communities, environment and wildlife and save us taxpayers money which will be better spent where really needed.

Watch this space for our updates as the work really begins.

In the meantime, if you want to take action yourself, see our blog post ‘How you can help’.