Littering problem is not just caused by un-emptied bins

A church leader in Portadown is overseeing clean-up as the council workers’ strike has left litter bins overflowing.

Chris Leech of the Emmanuel Church said: “We love our town and it is sad to see it a mess.”

Yet he also said he understood the concerns that led to industrial action and he wanted people paid a fair wage.

The sight of bins overflowing, and all the problems that brings, such as vermin will remind people over 55 of the ‘winter of discontent’ in the late 1970s, when various UK strike actions led to withdrawal of public services.

It was seen as a sign of failing government, and a reflection of a country perhaps sinking into mismanagement and rancour. For the first time now since that era, inflation in back in Britain. This time it is a Tory government at the helm, not a Labour one.

But litter is not merely linked to strike action. It has been a curse of modern life – people who are too thoughtless to put waste items in a bin, even if the bins are being emptied as normal. And yet, while littering is still common place, and while it blights some Northern Ireland’s beauty spots, it is not as much of a problem as it was decades ago.

Perhaps we should remember that for all the political and economic difficulties of 2022, in many respects anti social behaviour, such as drink driving or smoking inconsiderately around non smokers or indeed littering, has declined over the years. Not everything is getting worse.