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Posted in Environment | 7 Comments

7 Responses

1. on Thursday April 2, 2015 at 12:02 pm | Reply Janet G

   Really sorry, I think these may belong to me. A bin tipped over in the high winds, I did pick what I thought what was more or less all of them up, but some must of got further down the stream than I thought. Many thanks to the boys for clearing them up. Come up to the pub with the cans for me to get rid off and a treat! Many thanks

   
   
2. on Thursday April 2, 2015 at 12:09 pm | Reply Anthony C

   I’ve fairly recently returned from living overseas for some years and count myself extremely fortunate to have returned to live in the Peak District National Park. However, I’m astonished and dismayed by the amount of litter one sees piling up along roadside verges and elsewhere in our Country. It’s as if the UK has suddenly sunk into the Third World and somehow isn’t proud of its appearance any more.

   Case in point: the other morning I was driving some American friends to Birmingham Airport from Parwich and couldn’t quite believe the grotesque heaps of litter strewn along the highway verges; fluttering pieces of ragged plastic bags (including agricultural plastic wrapping – see below) scarring otherwise beautiful hedgerows. This is a national embarrassment, and one that I can’t recall being aware of before I left Britain 16 years ago – at least not in these proportions.

   Closer to home here in the Peak National Park, I’ve also been troubled to see careless littering by folk who come here apparently to enjoy their visit, yet these same people stuff plastic drinks bottles and cans into drystone walls; toss crisp packets and sweet wrappers around the fields and moorlands, around footpaths and trails; think it’s OK to chuck epic amounts of detritus out of the windows of their vehicles or rucksacks/panniers as they tour the countryside, zoom along the A515, or stop at laybys (the one opposite Rivendale Camping site for example is atrocious). A new litter source perhaps, but during recent walks I’ve recently picked up the remains of seven plastic helium party balloons which find their way to the fields and hedgerows here from goodness knows where.

   When out walking I usually pick up all the carry-able litter I find, but was recently defeated by the presence of an old TV dumped in a hedgerow on Dam Lane, at the Parwich end. I mean, why would anyone do such a thing, especially in this part of the world?

   And I have a final question, perhaps a sensitive one given our farming heritage and economy: is agricultural plastic wrapping biodegradable? I ask because I’m seeing shards of ugly black plastic agricultural wrapping all over the place: along roads and lanes; embedded in mud along footpaths and in fields; trapped in hedgerows and trees. Even if this rubbish is biodegradable, it’s ugly – but is it inevitable?

   I realise all this is not a new problem, but it does seem to have got an awful lot worse.

   
   
3. on Thursday April 2, 2015 at 12:57 pm | Reply Cheryl Woolley

   Cracking job lads – well done!!!

   
   
4. on Thursday April 2, 2015 at 1:31 pm | Reply John B

   What can I say other than a very very very big thankyou to those great guys. Brilliant job.

   John B.

   
   
5. on Thursday April 2, 2015 at 10:25 pm | Reply Saskia T

   What a CAN-do, will-do attitude – well done lads. Cantastic!

   On the side-step of roadside littering, I sadly have to agree with Anthony that the situation seems to be getting worse. I have noticed with dismay how much rubbish there is accumulating e.g. along the B5056, and even some lanes immediately around Parwich itself. I find it difficult to believe that there is a sudden worsening in careless disgarding of rubbish, and instead I wonder whether the budget cuts (less money for cleaning of roadside verges??) are also playing a role?
   I recently spent several weeks in Australia and there is virtually NO rubbish on roadsides anywhere nor in Sydney itself. The same applies to Holland, and even a Mediteranean country like Croatia seems to have far less rubbish lying around.
   Levels of littering are so important for foreign tourists as a ‘first impression of the country’ that the UK should perhaps be much more aware of the potential damage to their image and therefor the damage to tourism it can inflict.
   Back to the local situation: I myself would be happy to spend a few hours clearing some verges along local lanes if there was enough local interest to ‘clean up the parish’!

   
   
6. on Sunday April 5, 2015 at 11:20 pm | Reply Anthony C

   You always comment in a manner that the World’s diplomats should learn from Saskia T, thank you. And I’m sure you are correct about budget cuts. Honestly, I’m very much ashamed to show international guests around our rubbish-strewn nation.

   I see the Daily Mail has picked up on this. Not a DM fan myself, but heck, it’s a matter of national pride:

   http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3025774/Utter-rubbish-Fury-litter-strewn-roadsides-nanny-council-says-s-dangerous-clean-up.html

   
   
7. on Monday April 6, 2015 at 4:16 pm | Reply Saskia T

   Oh, no! I would make a lousy diplomat! No thank you.
   The controversy highlighted by the Daily Mail, it being ‘too dangerous’ to clean the roadsides, does seem indeed a rather feeble excuse not to have to spend manpower (=money) on the job of cleaning the roadsides.
   However, the rubbish wouldn’t be there in the first place if the British public had more respect for their environment in this beautiful country. But then we are talking to the ‘converted’ here in Parwich! I guess that a different attitude of the general public in other countries (greater awareness, pride, ???) is the main reason for the much lower levels of road-side litter, rather than larger budgets for road-side cleaning. Let’s hope that the next generation of school-aged children are more aware of litter and waste, and will be able to turn the tide, as I understand that most have grown up with Eco Schools and the 4-R’s, starting with: Refuse (e.g. refuse that plastic carrier bag given to you without asking if you want it), Reduce (occasionally I buy wooden instead of plastic toys, but oh, how difficult it is!), Re-use (I think that opportunities for re-use are now much, much more available and accepted, e.g. for furniture: Ashbourne’s Encore Reuse) and lastly Recycle. (Kids, correct me if I got any of this wrong!).
   PS1: wouldn’t it be impressive if national newspapers took inspiration for their articles from topics raised on the Parwich Blog?!
   PS2: I would love to see a short (monthly?) contribution on the blog written by the children at Parwich School, for example about an aspect of their Eco Schools work. I’m sure they can teach us a thing or two…

   
   

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