The Ventilator

Incorporating The Ranger's Blog

Litter and waste

A rubbish idea

Matthew Chatfield
Latest posts by Matthew Chatfield (see all)

The CPRE’s champion, Bill Bryson, has launched a campaign to reduce flytipping and litter called Stop the Drop. Bravo, says The Ranger.

One of the themes of the campaign is roadside litter. It’s an issue that also bothers The Ranger, as he spent many hours picking litter in his time. While trolling up and down the hedgerows with a litter-picker, one’s mind wanders and sometimes reaches a zen-like state of trance. On one such occasion the Ranger had an idea to reduce roadside litter, which Bill Bryson’s exhortations brought back to him.

A great deal of roadside rubbish is caused by drive-through debris being flung from the window of the car when consumption is complete. How about targeting this particular issue by requiring all drive-through takeaways to identify the wrapping of such meals with the numberplate of the vehicle concerned? No doubt a few issues will need to be dealt with – the identifier could be on one or two of the items of food, not all of them, and not just on the outside either. Obviously a cunning person could remove the number, but if they are going to take that much trouble then why not just throw it away later? Idleness is the key here, not cunning. Privacy issues you say? Then take your wrapper home for secure disposal, otherwise Big Brother will know you ate a burger. How about it Bill?

Matthew Chatfield

Uncooperative crusty. Unofficial Isle of Wight cultural ambassador. Conservation, countryside and the environment, with extra stuff about spiders.

One thought on “A rubbish idea

  • ghostmoth

    Alternatively, charge more to take away than eat in and make the fast food outlet use the extra money to send out litter patrols. I’ve seen Maccy D rubbish miles away from the nearest drive-thru.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.