What are the problems caused by litter?
A recent poll suggested that the British public believe that our towns and cities are dirtier than those in the rest of Western Europe. Thirty-nine per cent of respondents said that litter was one of the factors that make them feel uncomfortable in Britain’s streets. Litter is expensive – nationally it costs around £370 million a year to remove litter from our streets, waterways and open spaces and a further £5 million to remove shopping trolleys dumped in rivers and ponds. Litter facts • The most commonly-found litter is cigarette ends, followed by sweet and food wrappers. • In the UK an estimated 25 milliontonnes/year is dropped – this is as heavy as 62,500 jumbo jets. • 1.3 million pieces of rubbish are dropped on Highways Agency roads every weekend. • An estimated 122 tonnes of cigarette butts and cigarette-related litter is dropped every day across the UK. • More than 100,000 trolleys go astray from supermarkets each year. Many end up obstructing paths, spoiling beauty spots or po
