Litter Bugs

R

redbhoy

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A pet hate of mine is how lazy some people can be when it comes to disposing of their rubbish. How easy is it to stick a wrapper in your pocket and wait to throw it in the next bin or maybe hold onto it until you get home?
I seen a banana skin being thrown from the window of a Transit Van yesterday as it made its way up the Clonliffe Road. Is there some way you can report this type of offence? Who would you approach?
 
At least a banana skin is biodegradeable.

I think you can report such offences to the Garda Special Branch and they will get a team of crack experts on the case.

Alternatively...

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Contact your litter warden. You'll get their info from the County Council (or equivalent) website. I've done this in the past for dumping incidents I've witnessed, albeit it was more than a banana skin, but I know that they follow up on cigarettes thrown out of windows.
 
£30 fine over here in England if you are caught dropping a cigarette butt in the street.
 
Dowee said:
Contact your litter warden. You'll get their info from the County Council (or equivalent) website. I've done this in the past for dumping incidents I've witnessed, albeit it was more than a banana skin, but I know that they follow up on cigarettes thrown out of windows.
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I heard of one District Court judge who insisted on getting the actual butt presented in evidence, otherwise he would strike out the case.

BillK said:
£30 fine over here in England if you are caught dropping a cigarette butt in the street.
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There is technically a fine over here too, but it seems to happen very rarely. Is that law enforced over there?
 
My pet hate is when you are walking dogs in a park, and the dog does his "business" and being a responsible dog owner you pick it up with bag - and there are no bins to bin the business!!!
 
Fines are enforced over here, though not as much as they will be in future we are told. Legislation is relatively new here.
 
BillK said:
Fines are enforced over here, though not as much as they will be in future we are told. Legislation is relatively new here.
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Well Ireland usually copies the UK anyway. So hopefully it will stop the littering (a bit) over here.
 
As regards the cigarette butt dropping - I am a smoker myself, and abhor littering, but MY pet hate is that more often than not I find public places do not have any facilities for disposing of butts - I don't expect every tiny shop to have a bin/tray at their entrance, but when the likes of larger stores/shopping centres dont' have any facilities to dispose of a butt I find myself trying to stub out the butt on the sole of my shoe and trying to carry the butt discreetly in my hand til I can find a bin, seeing as many shopping centres don't even have bins near their entrance. There are 4 large shopping centres in my local area that I can think of off the top of my head that don't have any receptacles.

Surely larger stores would find it preferable to place bins/trays at or near their entrances rather than having to hire some poor unfortunate to have to sweep up the detrius from slightly less considerate smokers?

Might I add that I smoke rollups too so that even if I did stub them out in the street there is not the issue of it not being biodegradable as I don't use filters; one swoosh of my foot and the entire thing disintegrates into tiny flakes of tobacco which is dispersed immediately, but even knowing this I can't stand to do it :eek:

What is the position legally on this - ATM machines have to have a receptacle to place the slips in, fast food stores/smaller convenience stores have bins for people to place food wrappers in outside the door once they've unwrapped their food, is there any onus on any business to provide even a tiny tray for cigarette butts, or is it up to stores to choose to provide it out of a spirit of sensibility? Or would we all be better to carry miniature sealable ashtrays ourselves? Our local council tried this idea once (ie provided a teeny plastic click-shut box to store butts in til you can get to a bin) but to date I am the only person I have ever seen with one?
 
It seems that the majority of smokers don't consider dumping cigarette butts to be littering. Either that, or they just can't be bothered. I've lost count of the number of times I've seen someone two steps from a bin (with an ashtray on it) just drop the butt.

The fine was recently increased to €125, but I've never seen anyone stopped for dropping a cigarette butt, even when it was done right in front of a gard. If they want to make it meaningful, have the offenders spend a Saturday picking up cigarette butts.
 
Seagull said:
The fine was recently increased to €125, but I've never seen anyone stopped for dropping a cigarette butt, even when it was done right in front of a gard. If they want to make it meaningful, have the offenders spend a Saturday picking up cigarette butts.
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Yes i think a fine is an obvious way to stop littering, but will that money be used to clear up the butts or chewing gum on the streets? Or will it be used to lengthen our lovely politicians' holidays/salaries?
 
The fine is meaningless unless it is enforced. How many people do you see dropping cigarette butts on a daily basis, and how many have you seen stopped by a gard for doing so?
 
A friend of mine was reported recently for throwing a fag butt out of her car on the N11, haven't been talking to her this week but must find out what the fine is coz she got some letter allright and was going mental. I burst out laughing and told her to give up or use the ashtray in her precious car coz it's rotten fag butts could land anywhere!. I have proof of it aswell!!
 
I would not regard myself as a litter lout, but I see nothing wrong with disposing of a banana skin or apple butt out of sight in a convenient hedgerow or ditch, where it will simply enter a food chain (Obviously, just throwing it on a road or path is not the same.)
 
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