The importance of access to green spaces and parks have been and continue to be more important than ever during the coronavirus outbreak, but there has been a huge increase in those dropping and leaving their litter in the parks.
This puts an additional financial strain on The Parks Trust to try and keep on top of all the additional waste as well as depleting the resources of our operations team and The Parks Trust’s Rangers.
This week alone, they have collected more than 800 bags of litter from across our parks. In recent weeks, especially due to the nice weather, they have found greater numbers of people ‘considerately littering’ by leaving their rubbish next to or on top of overflowing bins. But that is still littering!
A spokesman said: "We do have some strategically placed bins located around our parks, and our team are working hard to make sure these are frequently emptied but if the bin is full please don’t leave your bag next to the bin, take it home.
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"Leaving rubbish next to or trying to force rubbish into an already overflowing bin seriously effects wildlife. Discarded rubbish blows around our parks and gets into the path of wildlife causing a whole host of issues.
"Small mammals, like shrews, often climb inside discarded bottles where they become trapped and die, hedgehogs (a declining species in the UK) are often victims of litter. They become caught up in items like plastic multi-pack rings and plastic carrier bags, often with fatal results. It is not just land mammals that are suffering, waterfowl such as swans and geese can swallow plastic which accumulates in their stomach and eventually kills them. So please act responsibly and take your litter home."
The Parks Trust already spends more than £350,000 a year removing litter, so adding more bins is simply not the answer and particularly during this time when we are taking a significant hit to our income.
Research conducted by Keep Britain Tidy indicates that 62% of people do not litter. These people would normally take their litter home with them, but upon seeing bins, will use them. So, installing more bins into our parks is not affordable for the charity and clearing the excess litter at present, is reducing funds that could otherwise be spent on maintaining and improving the parks for the benefit of all.
"We would like to remind park users that are dropping litter or acting inappropriately in the parks that we do have mobile CCTV in operation," the spokesman added.
"Ten investigations were carried out last month alone, with the appropriate fixed penalties handed out. The penalties are set at £80 (for littering and dog fouling) and £400 for dumping rubbish. This is not a money-making exercise as the fines go to the Local Authority Enforcement Team, who once receiving the evidence undertake investigation, which in turn has a cost."
There are still many people that are not aware that The Parks Trust is a self-financing charity and does not receive any funding from local or central government.
