Writing recently in The New European, Alastair Campbell found himself in agreement with a Tory MP who had quoted the head of his local sixth-form college. Campbell, the MP and the college head are exercised about litter. The latter said:
“In a third-class society, there’s a lot of litter, and no one picks it up. In a second-class society, there’s some litter, and some people pick it up. In a first-class society, there’s no litter and if there was any, someone would pick it up.”
In the past twelve months, I’ve been in Berlin, Paris, Malaga, Warsaw and Krakow. None seemed to have a litter problem. Krakow, a city of a million people, has city-centre parks almost clinical in their cleanliness.
Glasgow’s not miles better
I live in Glasgow, where the litter and fly-tipping are depressing the population and creating a spiral of resignation. The more that happens, the more the litterers feel they have a licence to operate, unhindered by unpoliced laws. When did you last hear of a litterer being given a police warning, never mind appearing in court?
What must visitors think? What must people weighing up investing in Glasgow think? What are those considering taking a job here thinking? Yes, the city has much to offer. Parks and walks. Many great schools and world-class universities. A rich variety of sports and outdoor leisure. A fabulous array of music of every variety. Great restaurants. I could go on. Wonderful as the city is, it looks like a midden. Why would I want to live in a midden?
It seems though that littering is not only a Glasgow problem. Campbell’s modest story on litter attracted a haul of letters to The New European, expressing dismay at the prevalence of rubbish on the UK’s streets, roadsides and motorway verges. Nobody – and I offer no suppositions – ventured to explain why a once tidy UK had lost its collective citizenship.
Keep Scotland Beautiful
In early November, the campaigning group, Keep Scotland Beautiful, published its fourth annual Scottish Litter Survey. It finds:
“Around nine in ten people in Scotland view litter as a problem across the country, with seven in ten people believing it is a problem in their local area. The trends we have identified over the last four years have continued, highlighting that people view litter as a problem more in our least affluent communities and, urban areas.”
Part of the blame must lie with London government and local authorities, which, strapped for cash in the age of austerity, have opted to fire street sweepers, while not replacing them with fleets of high-tech street cleaning vehicles. No doubt inept management of cleansing services is a feature in some localities. For example, in 2020 the then Conservative-run Canterbury City Council was forced to fire its private sector contractor and return cleansing to local authority control. The privitisation of waste collection began nearly forty years ago. A UK-wide rethink is surely overdue?
The Scottish Parliament has recently passed legislation to allow local authorities to set a tourist visitor levy. Edinburgh has announced it will introduce such a tax.
I recently interviewed, on Glad Radio, Patrick Harvey, the co-leader of the Scottish Greens and who sits in the Scottish Parliament as a Member for Glasgow South.
Harvey says he wants to see Glasgow follow Edinburgh. He argues that some of the money raised should be spent on investing in waste collection and management.
“If the city is better looked after, a bit more loved, it will not only be good for tourism. The whole city will benefit,” said Harvey.
Let’s go big: £10,000
In recent years, the Scottish Government has introduced a National Litter and Flytipping Strategy and a Marine Litter Strategy. These are good things, delivering a bit more money and extra powers to try to reduce waste offending. You might think doubling littering fines to £500 pretty mild. Let’s go big. Let’s make it up to £10,000 and make sure the legislation is well publicised and well policed, so there are charges and convictions.
Sometimes a big stick is necessary to change behaviours and demonstrate society’s displeasure.
The carrot in the waste reduction strategies of national and local governments is that we all end up paying far less to clean up the mess left by others, our communities become nicer places to be, and our towns and cities more attractive to visit and invest in. Our carbon footprint would be significantly reduced. Most of all, our children might grow up believing littering unthinkable.
As Barry Fisher, Chief Executive of Keep Scotland Beautiful, wrote in the forward to this year’s Litter Survey
“The challenge for us all – individuals, families, neighbourhoods, schools, businesses, public bodies, government – is whether we are prepared to do the hard work required and, where appropriate, ensure that there is sustainable investment to help tackle this problem.”
The good public is losing patience with the bad
I would add that personal responsibility is the most important element in Mr Fisher’s menu. The good public is losing patience with the bad public. Unless things greatly improve soon the state will have to invest far more than any of us would wish in waste management and public education campaigns.
There is a bigger political situation at work here. We know from recent elections across the democratic world and from surveys and academic research that an underlying current of discontent exists in many countries. Distrust of the democratic process and of democratic leadership is on the rise. When democracy cannot even keep the streets clean or deal adequately with those who litter then why invest in democracy? Why not find an authoritarian political alternative that can clean the streets? Let’s act before such politics gets a foothold.
I want to live in a first-class society. That includes liberal democracy and clean streets.
More in lifestyle.
