What we do
#NoPlaceForLitter encourages and supports groups of volunteers who not only litter pick, but want to change the whole attitude to litter in their community, by devising and sharing ideas to prevent its creation. We encourage collaboration within communities and between neighbouring communities.
This will involve a shift in thinking about what ‘normal’ is, so there is no blueprint to follow. We will need to find our own way, which may well mean different things in different communities, but by trying ideas and sharing the results we aim to change the consensus view so that the cry ‘#NoPlaceForLitter’ becomes the norm across the UK.
We will do this by creating a debate, but also by our actions, so our words are backed by experience and understanding.
Unintentional Littering
Unfortunately, everything we buy has the potential to become litter, even if we dispose of it responsibly.
We just don’t know what happens to our rubbish once it has been collected from a bin or placed at the curb-side for recycling - even if we have washed and sorted it beautifully! This opens up a really important question, when does the responsibility for the items we have bought stop? Is it when we have placed it in a bin? Is it then the responsibility of our council? Or does our responsibility for the things we buy never end?
Answering this question may explain why some people chase escaped recycling down the road to recapture it again, whereas others ignore it thinking it’s someone else's responsibility. These are just the sort of questions we should be asking, because answering them and collectively changing our behaviour as a society could make a huge difference to the litter in our community, as well as thinking about the way we shop and the packaging requirements we demand from those who sell the products we buy.
Plastic On-Farm and In the Food Supply Chain
In January I was lucky enough to speak at the Oxford Real Farming Conference alongside Guy Watson of Riverford Farm and Stuart Roberts, vice president of the NFU. We discussed the particular problems facing farmers when it comes to plastic, both in the day-to-day running of a farm and the packaging of the products they produce to sell to consumers. Here is a link to an article discussing this issue https://bit.ly/2ItFLdr and a video of the hour long presentation and discussion https://bit.ly/2EpoqOQ
How can you get involved?
Embrace the hashtags, #NOPlaceForLitter & #NOpfl, share what you are doing in your community to reduce litter.
Raise awareness about litter, join the discussion what is ‘litter’? Visit our 'Join a local group' page.
