A genuine question...

thriftwizard

...seeking genuine answers, please! You will have seen the news coverage of what's happening down here on our beaches & in our fields & forests every time the sun comes out. 40+ tons of rubbish & filth cleared has been cleared from the Bournemouth beaches alone over the last 2 days, by the Council and many volunteers. I understand that people have been locked down in less pleasant situations & want a day (or so) out at the seaside or in "nature" & certainly don't begrudge them that, BUT what possesses them to just leave all their rubbish behind? Why do they think it's someone else's job to clear up after them? Why abandon perfectly good towels, blankets, tents, chairs, pushchairs etc. that presumably they've spent good money on? Yes, I'm outraged, but also genuinely puzzled; what lies behind this behaviour & how can we let people know it's not acceptable?

I've lived near the coast for most of my life; we grew up taking pack-up picnics down to the beach, with a Thermos flask of ice-cold squash etc. At the end of the day we carried it all back home to dispose of, or clean to use again, though to be fair the seagulls would already have nabbed anything remotely edible. Any fires (yes, we cooked line-caught mackerel on biscuit tin lids over driftwood fires. Many burnt fingers!)  were carefully doused & the embers well-buried so other people weren't in danger of burning their feet. My kids grew up doing the same. But it's evident that lots of people seem to have no concept of personal responsibility for their surroundings; how did that happen? And how could we encourage them to see what harm they're doing?

bit_by_bit

I too am horrified at the scenes of waste on the beaches. I think for some at least it is sheer laziness. Can't be bothered to pack up and haul it back after a day in the heat. As an attender of festivals the same things happen. Whole tents, chairs and mountains of rubbish left behind. Maybe this disposability culture we have has just gone too far. 

jamanda

I don't think some people have been taught to clear up after themselves, look after their possessions or think of others.  The people that do this sort of thing seem to me to be totally self-centred, stupid and wasteful.  And dirty.

camelot1001

I think we have a generation of little snowflakes who always think it's someone else's responsibility to clear up after them.

I hope the people who just leave all their chairs, tents, etc have enough food to feed their children or is that someone else's responsibility too?

Brambling

Although I no longer live in the county I grew up in Dorset and a lot of my family still live there, angry doesn't quite cover how they feel at the moment at the way their beautiful beaches have been treated.  We grew up respecting the beach and the beautiful countryside and as you said taking all our rubbish home with us and we were usually on the bus.  My parents made sure we appreciated how lucky we were.  Unfortunately it's the locals who will do the beach clear ups and sort out the messes my nieces and their families are frequently apart of beach clean ups 

As much as I love Dorset I usually avoid going down at the weekend over the summer unless i have to and then leave home really early  as trying to get off the M27 is usually a nightmare and a 2 hours journey can take over 4 so I hate to think of what the roads were like but I'm hoping that some people will think twice if they had to queues for hours to get out of the county.  

Floss

Maybe the councils & volunteers could dump all the non-food rubbish in the car parks, or build a blockade so access to the beaches is blocked by stuff trippers have left behind? Would create quite a statement if folk could not get onto the beach for their own rubbish...

jamanda

I wonder if these are the same people who watch Blue Planet with horror when they see all the rubbish in the oceans and consider themselves eco-friendly.

[Deleted User]

I’ve come to the realisation that not only are the majority of people inconsiderate that many of them are quite thick. You’ve got to wonder who ties their shoelaces in the mornings the way people are behaving. 

People on the news being interviewed at the beach ‘we came all the way from Hertfordshire on a 3 hour drive and when we got here it was too busy’. 

In what world did they think it was a good idea to do that journey on the hottest day of the year? Unbelievable 

Nonnadiluca

I live in the New Forest and am constantly sickened by the way people treat this wonderful place: not just leaving rubbish all over the place but obviously throwing it out of car windows; feeding the ponies and parking in the most inappropriate places. Last summer a family were collecting wood and building a fire right next to the trees. We had words!  I've come to the conclusion that they think it's some kind of theme park and petting zoo, and that 'staff'  go round at the end of the day to clear up after them. 

Brambling

Deleted_User said:

I’ve come to the realisation that not only are the majority of people inconsiderate that many of them are quite thick. You’ve got to wonder who ties their shoelaces in the mornings the way people are behaving. 

People on the news being interviewed at the beach ‘we came all the way from Hertfordshire on a 3 hour drive and when we got here it was too busy’. 

In what world did they think it was a good idea to do that journey on the hottest day of the year? Unbelievable 

It was the same a few weeks ago at Durdle Door where the BBC interviewed a woman who had driven for 1.5 hours and was annoyed that so many people had come down to the beach, she obviously didn't see that she was 'one of them'!!

3secondmemory

I get fed up with dog poop on our walkways and river paths but this week has been the absolute limit with human litter and waste. 

We’ve heard stories of outrageously selfish parking and pooping in peoples gardens! 

Our local beaches are now in accessible to anyone shielding or with immune problems because of risk of contamination from human waste! 

The lockdown isn’t over yet