LAWR

STREET SCENE The burning question… here has been plenty of research into litter in the past decade or so, but this year there has been a change of pace. In March, a high profile group of MPs found to their horror that litter levels in England have "barely improved" in the last 12 years. In that time, councils have collectively spent as much as £10bn clearing the mess up. As Clive Betts, chair of the Communities and Local Government committee at the time, said, councils are "fighting a losing battle". And it's not just in England. In Scotland, the issue of litter is firmly on the radar in 2015. The country may have published its litter strategy last year, but the 114-page tome produced by Zero Waste Scotland 12 Local Authority Waste & Recycling July 2015 T It's a problem that costs local authorities almost £1bn a year. New initiatives will help, but the UK is lacking a coherent strategy on litter prevention, says David Burrows. • Littering hasn't improved in the past decade, with fast food packaging rising • Research on behaviour paints a complex picture of attitudes towards littering • A new innovation hub could help councils solve some of the issues • Fines are not working, and cover under 0.2% of the clean-up costs • Support is growing for levies and deposit schemes for the most littered items • The government needs to lead on creating a coordinated strategy (ZWS) recently, provided one of the most detailed qualitative analyses of people's behaviour towards litter. "We're pleased with the results, but they paint a complex picture, and careful thought will be needed to apply the lessons with maximum effect," the foreword reads. Having put pen to paper, the big challenge is action and results. The study, 'Public Perceptions and Concerns around Litter', is being used by ZWS to develop ideas to prevent littering behaviour, rather than spending time and money cleaning it up as it appears – prevention is much better than cure. The costs to local authorities to clean up the mess have been well documented – the most widely reported figure putting the total, including fly- tipping, somewhere between £717m and £850m in England; for Scotland it's £53m, whilst in Wales and Northern Ireland combined, litter makes a further £110m hole in the public purse. With budgets likely to be further squeeze under a Conservative government, this is a chunk of money that could be much better spent elsewhere – not least in removing more recyclable materials from street waste. "Change is needed," the CLG report suggested. But will the new UK government listen, and what policies or initiatives will be the most cost-effective? The clean up costs are certainly an eye-opener in a period of austerity, but there are also a number of indirect costs that continue to pile up as the litter does. Consultants at Eunomia have categorised these as 'internal' and 'external'. Internalised costs include the impact of litter on property values " Councils are fighting a losing battle "

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