Litter and Refuse Problem (Hansard, 21 April 1998)

§ Lord Hardy of Wath
asked Her Majesty's Government:
What action they are taking to deal with the problem of litter both in town and country.

§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (Baroness Hayman)
My Lords, local authorities and others are under a duty to ensure that their land is kept clear of litter and refuse, and it is a criminal offence for a person to drop anything in a public place that causes the defacement of that place by litter.
The Government fund the Tidy Britain Group to advise them on litter and to promote its proper disposal. Their National Spring Clean campaign is taking place this month.

§ Lord Hardy of Wath
My Lords, does the Minister accept that the optimism of the former government in suggesting that the problem was rapidly diminishing was unjustified? Is my noble friend aware that last week in two 100-yard stretches of a country lane recently cleaned by a local authority, I counted over 100 and over 95 items of litter? In the centre of a small town there was at least five times as much litter within five yards of the litter bins provided by the local authority as there was within them. Is it not clear that the litter legislation is not effective? Can action be taken to improve the situation, otherwise the United Kingdom will remain the most litter strewn country in north west Europe?

§ Baroness Hayman
My Lords, I am not sure of the comparative evidence of this country as against others in terms of litter. However, it is a serious problem which distresses many people in the towns and countryside. It is also an expensive problem. The sum of £323 million a year is spent by local authorities in England on street cleaning alone. It is not an issue that we can neglect.
There has been extensive consultation on the issue. The Government expect to issue an updated code of practice for litter authorities in the summer which will give guidance on publishing litter plans and information on powers to tackle litter and refuse; it will include a new zone category for land used for special events which attract large numbers of people.

Viscount Long
My Lords, bearing in mind that chewing gum is now classed as litter, can the Minister say how many prosecutions have taken place in recent times from spitting out this terrible gum all over our streets?

§ Baroness Hayman
My Lords, I cannot differentiate between prosecutions relating to litter of various types, and specifically chewing gum, which I know is a matter of concern for the noble Viscount and was discussed recently in this House. There were 886 fixed penalty notices for littering offences issued in 1996–97; 626 people were prosecuted for litter offences in 1996–97, resulting in 468 convictions.

§ Lord Gisborough
My Lords, is the Minister aware that many parents resent their children being sent out to pick up litter in the grounds of their schools? Would it not be a very good thing if children were made to go out and pick up the litter they have dropped so that they learn from an early age not to drop it in the first place?

§ Baroness Hayman
My Lords, I believe that this is a matter of personal responsibility, and that all individuals have our part to play. Those of us who are parents or grandparents have our part to play, not only in relation to our own behaviour but in influencing that of other generations. As a parent, I should certainly not be at all upset if my children were sent out to clear up litter.

§ Lord Chesham
My Lords, is the Minister aware of a very successful campaign that was waged in New South Wales called "Do the Right Thing"? The campaign was aimed at children; plastic bags for litter were handed out. The children encouraged others to put the bags into their cars and were telling their parents, "Come on, Dad, do the right thing". One of the most embarrassing things that can happen is for your child to pull you up for littering. This was a government initiative. Could this Government take a similar initiative?

§ Baroness Hayman
My Lords, I am not aware of that particular initiative. As I said, the Tidy Britain Group, funded by the Government, does run such campaigns. We are currently in the middle of the National Spring Clean campaign, which is in its eighth year. This campaign raises awareness and encourages schools, voluntary organisations, businesses and individuals to become involved and tidy up their own local area. The noble Lord might be interested to know that last year 3 million people were involved in the campaign.

§ Lord Glenamara
My Lords, with regard to the question by my noble antonym on the other side of the Chamber, does my noble friend the Minister agree that the horrible habit of throwing chewing gum on the pavement is defacing our towns and cities throughout the country? Pavements in London are filthy with chewing gum. Are the Government undertaking research or providing guidance to local authorities on how to remove it?

§ Baroness Hayman
Yes, my Lords. Through the Tidy Britain Group we are working with a leading gum manufacturer to develop effective cleansing methods and to investigate the composition of the gum itself in order to make it less difficult to clear from the streets. I understand, however, that there are difficulties in 1031 producing gum which has the chewability that is considered marketable but not the stickiness which makes it difficult to cleanse.

Lord Bowness
My Lords, I am sure that the House will welcome the fact that there is to be another campaign. However, if local authorities are to do more in this field, how will that be paid for? Does she agree that 886 is an abysmally small number of notices to have been issued in one year compared with the amount of litter that can be easily counted almost anywhere?

§ Baroness Hayman
My Lords, as I have told the House, local authorities, government departments, schools and colleges have a duty to ensure that their land is kept clear of litter and refuse so far as is practical. I know that a number of local authorities, because they set this as a priority, employ litter wardens in order to implement the Environmental Protection Act provisions dealing with people who drop litter. This is basically a matter for local authorities and for litter authorities. The Tidy Britain Group believes that there are in excess of 100 litter wardens presently employed and that the number is rising. We expect to have up-to-date figures in June.

§ Lord Avebury
My Lords, will the Government consider asking generators of litter, such as McDonald's, to make voluntary contributions to local authorities so that they can employ more litter wardens?

§ Baroness Hayman
My Lords, that is one suggestion. There is another way of dealing with that particular problem: namely, issuing a street litter control notice. District councils may issue to the occupiers of certain types of premises or land a street litter control notice which requires the occupiers themselves rather than the local authority to clear the litter or refuse from the street or open land which is adjacent to their own land. The types of land to which that may apply are very often those used for the sale of food and drink, petrol stations, places of entertainment, betting shops and premises selling lottery tickets.

Lord Renton
My Lords, is the noble Baroness aware that a large proportion of the railway sidings in this country are littered with material of various kinds, including old sleepers, rusty bits of old iron and all kinds of things which together amount to an eyesore? Will she try to persuade those who are responsible for the maintenance of sidings to do something about it?

§ Baroness Hayman
My Lords, railway land is an interesting example. Privatisation meant that there was no longer a litter authority which had a duty to remove litter from railway land. That has been one of the problems in cleansing stations of litter. We are taking action to give high priority to drafting the necessary orders to make sure that Railtrack is a litter authority.