RE: On Littering...
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Thank you! Exactly one of my pet peeves. And no, this doesn't just apply to the UK alone. I've seen this pretty much everywhere.
It's so convenient to push the blame to the individual consumer / citizen. Carry your trash around with you until you get home. Even then, don't just toss it, but separate the paper from the metal from the plastic from the organic stuff, and better write your name on your garbage bags, or else you'll be seen as irresponsible.
Okay, but what about producing all the material consumers don't care about, but still get dumped on when buying stuff? And of course, if the city can't won't pay for keeping public spaces clean, it's all up to us to do it. (Actually, we the people have already taken care of it, in most cases, by paying taxes specifically for this purpose!)
Finally, the group dynamic kicks in, which can be summarized by the German proverb Der Klügere gibt nach, which can be translated to the smarter one gives in. However, the extension of the proverb is just as wise, claiming Der Klügere gibt nach bis er der Dumme ist, meaning the smarter one gives in until he's the dumb one (i.e. he's the one being taken advantage of). And that is exactly how I feel, when I see myself forced to carry my trash home with me, passing street corners piled with garbage where I remember that a bin used to be.
I feel your pain on this,
it's cleaning up your own mess it's basic, maybe we need to go Singapore and use the fines to pay for more bins!
That's right, it is OUR OWN mess, not because we put it there, but simply because we see it where we happen to be. Instead of bagging it up and taking it to the dump ourselves, we may call the city services who are the professionals to do this. And if they won't do it, the alternative is to add our own trash to it, and stop considering it ours the moment we walk away.
The Singapore solution sounds like it could work... until people get tired of being fined, and stop littering. Then the city won't have enough funding for bins, incentivizing people to leave their trash on the corner, even with the risk of fines. If sufficient people do it, the accumulated fines will pay for more bins, and the cycle starts again.