Fight against litter must continue
March 23, 2009
Lord Hunt, the Minister for Sustainable Development and Innovation, has urged the public and local authorities to step up the fight against litter. His comments were made in the wake of the latest annual Local Environment Quality Survey, which indicates many of England's streets remain in a less-than-satisfactory condition.
The survey assesses 19,000 sites in England for problems such as litter, graffiti and fly-posting. Its purpose is to provide an objective analysis of street conditions. Headline findings from the latest survey for 2007/08 include:
- as in previous surveys, smoking related litter was the litter most often found on England's streets, appearing on 78% of all sites surveyed
- once again, confectionary packaging was the second most common item of litter found, although there was a slight reduction from 67% to 64%
- there was an increase in all types of drinks-related litter - alcoholic drinks litter rose 1% to 22% and soft drinks litter rose by 5% to 57%
- the increase in fast food litter continued, being present at 25% of sites surveyed - an increase of 1%
- for the second year running, there was a 1% drop in dog fouling - it was evident on 6% of sites surveyed
- overall, there was a 3% drop in litter in comparison with the previous year's results
Phil Barton, Chief Executive of Keep Britain, made the point that environmental problems, such as litter and graffiti affected people's perception of their neighbourhoods and could act as a magnet for more serious crimes.
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