Facts and Figures

There is a really interesting document about people who litter on the right, and many questions that we are frequently asked detailed below.

What?

• What is litter?

Legally speaking, the word litter is given a wide interpretation. Litter can be as small as a sweet wrapper, as large as a bag of rubbish, or it can mean lots of items scattered about. Litter is most commonly assumed to include materials often associated with smoking, eating and drinking, that are improperly discarded, left by members of the public, or spilt during business operations as well as waste management operations.

• What are the different types of litter?

The different types of litter include: cigarettes, food and associated wrappers, chewing gum, drugs-related litter, and any item (big or small) dropped by a person.

• Are fallen leaves litter?

Natural matter such as overgrown vegetation, weeds or leaves which have fallen from trees, are not classed as litter. They are included in "detritus", which comprises dust, mud, soil, grit, gravel, stones, rotted leaves and vegetable residues, fragments of twigs, glass, plastic and other finely divided materials. Detritus includes leaf and blossom falls when they have substantially lost their structure and have become mushy or fragmented.

• Is dog mess litter?

Dog faeces are classed as 'refuse', not litter and are subject to different laws. However, we recognise that this is a real problem to many people who might actually see it as litter.

Why?

Is litter really that bad?

Litter has a negative impact on the environment and our quality of life:

• High levels of litter and poor local environmental quality can deter economic activity and investment. ENCAMS research indicates a significant link between the quality of the environment and the status of the local economy.
• A littered environment (especially when occurring in conjunction with other aspects of poor local environmental quality) can contribute negative perceptions of the neighbourhood possibly causing a greater fear of crime in some people.
• Litter can impact on public health by attracting animals and insects that can carry diseases.
• Litter can also be hazardous to wildlife, particularly in marine environment where litter can entangle or ingested by fish, mammals and other wildlife.

Legal

• Is it a crime to drop litter?

Dropping rubbish is a criminal offence under Section 87 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. The offence is defined as a person that drops, throws, deposits or leaves anything in a place commits a "littering" offence.

• What can I do if I see someone drop litter?

You are within your rights to ask someone to pick up litter if you see them dropping rubbish, but please ensure your personal safety is not put at risk. The same applies if you see litter thrown from cars.

• Can the police do anything about people dropping litter?

It is an offence to drop litter but it must be witnessed by a police officer/community support officer or council warden and it is likely that if any course of action is pursued it would be a penalty notice for disorder which means a £80 fine.

• Do the district councils enforce littering penalties?

The Council wants to encourage local people not to drop litter and instead help keep the environment clean. We want to achieve a litter-free county and enforcing the law is an important part of achieving this aim.

• What are the penalties?

Authorised officers can issue fixed penalty notices of £80 for littering offences. Failure to pay may result in a prosecution before a Magistrates Court where the maximum fine is currently £2,500.

• Who can get fined?

Anyone aged 14 years and above who drops litter in a public place can be fined.

• Where can offenders get fined?

Any public place including:

                    recreation areas

                    roads

                    pavements

                    land belonging to hospitals, schools and colleges

                    car parks

The districts councils pay particular attention to areas where there have been littering problems in the past including routes to and from secondary schools, outside shops and litter 'hotspots' such as fast food outlets.

• Do offenders have to pay the fine on the spot?

No, the offender's name and address will be taken they will receive a Fixed Penalty Notice. The offender will then have 14 days to pay the fixed penalty fine.

• What happens if the offender refuses to pay the fine?

Court action will be initiated, which can lead to a fine of up to £2,500.

• Shouldn't you educate people, not prosecute them?

Whilst district councils do prosecute for littering, district council officers also visit all schools to educate children on various environmental awareness initiatives including littering. If you are interested in learning more about litter please contact the Cornwall Litter Partnership.

• Do the district councils prosecute fly tippers?

Fly tipping ranges from people dumping single items and black bin bags through to the rogue traders who dump builders' rubble, tyres and other items. In all cases the people who do this are committing an offence and will be prosecuted. This can lead to a maximum fine of £50,000 or 5years imprisonment. Furthermore, the resources that are then used by the district council to remove the fly tipping could have been used to improve the district and increase cleansing frequencies. If you know someone who is fly tipping, whether it is a single item in a back street or someone dumping large quantities please contact your district council.

Who?

• Who is responsible for cleaning streets?

Your district council has a legal duty to clear litter and refuse from public places such as streets, parks, playgrounds and pedestrian areas. Their responsibility does not extend to private land, for which the owner is responsible.

• Who litters the most?

ENCAMS research found that people are most likely to litter when walking or travelling in a vehicle. It seems that when in a vehicle people feel less accountable and identifiable. ENCAMs also found that people think it is more acceptable to drop litter if an area is already run-down or dirty and if there are insufficient bins. The research found that they would think twice about littering if they were in their own neighbourhood, if the area was tidy or presentable or if they were with children.

• Blatant v accidental

There are people who blatantly drop litter with little regard for their environment and community. Others may cause litter accidentally, for instance, by placing their rubbish out for collection to early or unsecured, allowing rubbish to spill on to the pavement. Cigarette ends are a good example of when some people, who would not throw other items away unconsciously, litter regularly.

• Who do we think is to blame?

Most of the population voice their disgust at seeing litter on the streets. However, research conducted by ENCAMS (October 2001) shows that nearly every adult in the population drops litter, in varying degrees. The most frequently littered items were those that were seen as small and less harmful, such as small sweet papers, apple cores, cigarette butts and chewing gum.

All sections of society are contributing to the litter problem, but most people would not consider themselves to be at fault and would blame the following instead:

        teenagers;

        education in schools;

        the council;

        not enough bins;

        bins not emptied frequently enough;

        too much packaging and wrappings;

        not enough prosecutions;

        fines not high enough.

• Who can help?

Everyone! If you feel there is an issue with litter in your area, take action. Contact the local council, community groups, local schools or possibly set up your own local action group. The environmental charity Encams has a guide on organising your own clean-up.Cornwall is a county to be proud of and we are all responsible for looking after it.

How?

Have you ever wondered........

• How much does it cost to clear the litter in Cornwall?

The districts councils clears many tonnes of litter from across the county each year, costing local taxpayers around £5 million per year. This pays for the litter bins, street sweeping, clearing beaches etc.

• Why spend £5 million on clearing litter, won't it just disappear?

Some types of litter can take much longer than others to degrade. Plastic bottles can last indefinitely, aluminium drinks cans may last about 80 to 100 years, as can nappies. Supermarket plastic bags can last between 10 and 20 years. Cigarette butts, along with orange peel, banana skins and apple cores can last up to two years.

In the Local Environmental Quality Survey carried out by ENCAMS in 2004/05, cigarette-related litter was found in 79% of all locations surveyed and confectionery-related litter, such as sweet wrappers, was found in 67% of locations. Soft drinks-related litter (cans and bottles) was found in 65% of all locations

• How often is litter cleared in different areas?

All areas of the district are cleaned on a scheduled basis to frequencies that are based on ongoing assessments of usage and volume of traffic. The aim is to maintain the overall cleanliness of all areas in the district to a reasonable standard. Please refer to your local district council website for details about the frequency of street sweeping in your area.

• How do the different district councils perform?

Local authorities are compared and assessed using Best Value Performance Indicators (BVPI's). These are published by the Communities and Local Authorities website (www.communities.gov.uk). There are two BVPIs relevant to litter; BV89 (Satisfaction with cleanliness) and BV199a (The proportion of relevant land and highways (%) that is assessed as having combined deposits of litter and detritus that fall below an acceptable level).

Table 1 shows the national figures for BV 199a.

Table 3 shows the returns for the different District Councils in Cornwall for BV 89.  This demonstrates that public satisfaction with the standard of cleanliness is generally high and improving.

• In areas which generate a lot of waste (shops/school etc) why are there not more waste bins?

The locations of bins are periodically reviewed, so if you feel there are particular problems in your area contact your district council.

• Why don't bins have a compartment for putting cigarette stubs out?

Cigarette ends, if properly extinguished, can also be put into normal bins.

The Environment Agency is currently offering, free of charge, 'stubbies' which are small plastic portable containers for cigarette stubs. Contact Gitty Ankers, gitty.ankers@environment-agency.gov.uk for further information.

• What happens if there isn't a litter bin nearby?

If there isn't a litter bin handy, please be responsible and take your litter home with you. The presence or not of a litter bin does not excuse you from dropping litter. In some places, such as stations and airports litter bins are deliberately absent for security reasons.

• What else can the district help with in my area?

There are all kinds of problems that could strike your street and in general the local authority will have strategies to tackle these. Common problems include:

                    Graffiti and flyposters

                    Abandoned vehicles

                    Refuse on the streets

                    Overflowing skips and litter bins

                    Defaced road signs

                    Fly tips

                    Hazardous waste

                    Litter

• When you contact the district ....

Each district will have its own title for the department that carries out street cleaning. Usually it is called something like Cleaning or Environmental Services or Environmental Health.

If you telephone the local authority, state that your complaint is about street cleaning and ask to be put through to the relevant department. There are certain facts you will have to get across. You will need to:

                    Specify the particular problem on your street and whether it is recurrent

                    Give the exact location

                    Find out what action they intend to take and when

                    Note the date, time and name of the person you speak to for future reference

There may also be a facility for registering complaints and requests online.