Tag Archives: Tackling Litter

Coca Cola and Keep Britain Tidy find social factors

Coca Cola Enterprises (CCE) and Keep Britain Tidy research shows changing litter behaviour in under-25’s relating to social and personal influences.

Coca Cola

Coca Cola. The joint initiative sought to develop a better understanding of why people litter soft drinks packaging, in order to inform intervention and prevention strategies.

It identified young adults between the ages of 16 and 25 as those most likely to litter soft drinks.

Personal influences meant under-25’s had differing definitions of littering itself – like putting cigarettes down the drain or leaving an item on a wall or on a bench were not seen as littering by many.

The design and type of object or packaging was found to play a crucial role in influencing littering behaviours – cans were seen as more acceptable to litter than were bottles.

Socially, respondents said they would refrain from littering on a first date, in front of parents or a younger sibling – but amongst friends they would have less hesitation.

Additionally, location matters – littering close to home was deemed unacceptable, compared to in a town centre, where the environment was perceived to be dirtier and respondents felt more anonymous.

Bev Burnham, senior manager, corporate responsibility and sustainability, Coca-Cola Enterprises GB, said: “The issue of litter is something in which we all have a role to play if we are to address the related social and environmental challenges. While we at CCE can leverage our experience and expertise to educate and inspire consumers to recycle more often, we don’t have all the answers. That’s why we have collaborated with Keep Britain Tidy on this report, and we work with other environmental groups, to help generate new insights to inspire and encourage a real step change in GB litter habits.”

Keep Britain Tidy’s chief executive Allison Ogden-Newton added: “Understanding why and when people litter is key to developing cost-effective solutions that will make the difference we all want to see, reducing littering across the country.

Tackling Litter Paxman Slams UK at FPA Conference

Co-ordinated initiatives are the only way to Tackling Litter and prevent the UK from being a “rubbish dump”, according to TV presenter Jeremy Paxman.

Tackling Litter
He was speaking at the Foodservice Packaging Association’s annual environment conference in Solihull. The event debated what the UK needed to do to Tackling Litter and examined the issue of recycling.

In his presentation, Paxman, who is patron of Clean up Britain, claimed that tackling litter costs local authorities £1bn a year. He added that while individuals are responsible for dropping litter, empty cans, bottles, packets and burger wrappers are the kind of advertising that no brand would want.

“This has become a filthy country,” he said. “What does living in a rubbish dump say about us? We have lost self-respect. Unless business acts differently then there will be taxes, laws and legislation changes.”

Paxman urged a co-ordinated initiative to tackle litter, calling for a raft of bodies to come together. He added that government had “failed to address the problem” and that it’s lack of financial support meant that the private sector needed to fund initiatives.

Also speaking on litter was Derek Robertson from Keep Scotland Beautiful, who gave examples of initiatives that had succeeded. He added that a “common voice and collective action will have an impact”.

The founder of Hubbub, Trewin Restorick, pointed to a month-long initiative in Villiers Street, central London, which engaged with the public and observed how people littered. He added over the month, litter dropped by 26%.

Emma Cunningham, senior pollution campaigns officer at the Marine Conversation Society, added that £15m is spent on removing beach litter every year. She added that plastic was a serious problem as it never biodegrades, “it just weathers down to smaller and smaller pieces”.

The issue of recycling was also debated at the conference with representatives of McDonald’s, Nestle and Veolia.