Throwing rubbish: Are you a polite litterer?

In the UK it is commonly called fly-tipping, a term that is derived from the word 'fly' meaning to throw rubbish out of a moving vehicle. Some drivers still do it but not just in the UK. You often see cigarette ends or dirty tissues being tossed out or discretely being dropped out of car either while it’s moving or when it has stopped at a traffic light. The drivers assume that the activity is never going to be spotted and the rubbish will eventually disappear. Yet it ends up being blow to the side of the road where it clogs the drains which is a potential flooding hazard when it rains.

- Birjees Hussain

But now the term fly-tipping applies not just to people in moving vehicles. It applies to anyone throwing rubbish into undesignated areas whether it’s the side of the road, fields or rivers. I was by the creek several months ago and was flabbergasted at the amount of waste floating around in the water. A cleanup crew in boats was busy using nets to scoop up cigarette ends, wrappers and other debris.

Unfortunately in the UK, reports suggest that people leaving rubbish lying around is becoming common. It could be a can of soft drink, an empty coffee cup or an empty beer bottle. From the way the rubbish has been left, studies have identified three types of fly-tippers though I’m not even sure that is the correct term for them. They have designated them intentional, accidental and polite.