As life begins to return to some semblance of normality and with the beautiful weather we have been having (some of the time!) people are returning to our countries parks, beaches, and outdoor spaces to enjoy what they can of the summer. As incredible as it is to have loved ones reunited again and to see people out enjoying the beautiful outdoor spaces in our areas, it has come with some huge environmental consequences.
Media across the UK has reported how beaches have been turned into ‘disgusting rubbish tips’ and how green spaces have been overwhelmed by a ‘tsunami of rubbish’ as selfish litter louts dump their trash rather than taking it home to dispose of it responsibly.
Members of the public have called for authorities to take action to clamp down on those who are leaving these hideous amounts of rubbish behind.
L A Support works closely with ‘Clean Up Britain Org’ (CLUB) whose founder John Read, set up the organisation to help tackle environment issues, particularly litter. John has been particularly vocal after the shocking images that came from across the country after the good weather last week. He has said that littering should become as socially unacceptable as drink driving. Speaking to the Daily Mirror he said: “Britain is drowning under a tsunami of rubbish. We’re enduring a horrendous health pandemic, but we’re also suffering from a litter and fly-tipping epidemic.”
“Much tougher sentences are needed to deter fly-tipping and littering, which are costing local councils £58million a year to clear up. This is a horrendous waste of money.”
Addressing Littering is one of Kingdom L A Support’s biggest passions and we have worked tirelessly with Local Authorities up and down the country to help support them in their fight against litter offending. We offer enforcement services, an educational programme for schools linked with CLUB and CCTV that can detect and deter fly-tipping and littering from vehicles. However, for us to tackle this problem then more needs to be done. Local authorities need support so we can ‘ALL’ fight this war on the anti-social activity that is littering. At present Kingdom L A Support provides it’s services to over 40 different Local Authorities across the U.K in support of the fantastic efforts carried out by their ‘In House’ teams and we are here to help others?
As John Read mentioned in his recent statement littering costs literally millions of pounds a year to clear up! Not only is the monetary cost monumental, the manpower and time clearing areas is gigantic. It is left to each authority to find the resources to clean parks and fields of the mountains of rubbish that are left behind and many local communities commendably have taken to litter picking themselves to help improve their local areas.
But this doesn’t have to be the case. Kingdom L A Support has the knowledge and the experience to lessen this burden currently carried by local authorities. We can offer fully trained and vetted officers who can enforce the Environmental Protection Act and other legislation and regulations in respect of those who choose to break the law and drop their litter. We can offer the Management Information systems to administer the Fixed Penalty Notices (FPN) our teams may issue and deal with the process all the way through to collection of payment or production of court prosecution packages.
Enforcement is only part of the strategy and Education; Encouragement through Engagement always will be preferable however the deterrent to those who think its acceptable to drop litter is to hit them where it hurts and that is in their pockets so discouraging this behaviour and using the receipts collected to fund other anti-litter initiatives without expecting other law-abiding members of the community to fund through erosion of other community-based budgets.
Collections from FPN’s can help fund community clean ups and educational programmes designed to change behaviour.
Local communities are shouting for more to be done when it comes to littering and fly tipping so listen to their calls and get in touch with L A Support today to see how we can help you and them to Clean Up Britain
