Human behaviour can be both fascinating and frustrating. Take littering for example. A public area can contain bins, but that doesn't mean people will seek one out to dispose of their waste. Some simply walk on and drop their waste packaging wherever they feel like it. No guilt, no concern, someone else will come clean it up. That's why we pay taxes right? For public services like street cleaning.
That may be true, but consider another alternative: One where less funding is needed for street cleaning because there's less litter. Families spend more time outdoors because it's a nice, clean space to be in. Communities get to know one another, and streets become safer because there's more community activity. We're always talking about that kind of lifestyle as though it could only exist in a bygone dream, not a modern reality. But what if that could change, what would it take?
The default is to think that education is way to get people to stop littering. Tell people not to, explain why and they'll naturally see the importance and change how they behave. I disagree. For decades we've had public campaigns on littering in all forms of media.
Children get taught in school not to litter, yet the streets still need to be cleaned on a regular basis. There is always litter in public spaces - food packaging, single use plastic bottles, tin cans, and random bits of paper or plastic. Evidence suggests that it's going to take much more than education.
With the evidence that education has only a limited impact on changing behaviour, it leads me to question if problems such as littering are more a reflection of culture or values? If you're brought up in a home that is neat and tidy, where yard work and tidying your room are weekly chores, does that embed a desire to keep spaces around you clean, even if it requires effort? And by contrast are people that litter, messy at home too?
Singapore and Copenhagen are heralded as two of the cleanest cities globally. You won't see litter in the streets, but you will see bins and local authority services cleaning up. Are they simply more efficient or have locals developed a culture of not littering? In Singapore the fines for littering are harsh, and chewing gum is all but forbidden. Cultural habits that are common in many other global cities are simply not accepted. Even tourists can be fined. Singaporeans are proud of their clean streets and visitors are always amazed that a city that is as modern and populated, can be so clean. Perhaps it really does come down to what local communities value.
In Switzerland, locals value natural resources. It's one of the few European countries where the rivers are clean enough to swim in. In the 1970's the Swiss government legislated and started implementing changes in infrastructure to prevent pollution from entering rivers. They also developed measures aimed at improving water quality. 50 years later the majority of rivers in Switzerland have the highest levels of water quality, good enough for swimming and recreation, which add to the picturesque beauty of the country. Quite an achievement considering how polluted the rivers used to be.
Littering is generally blamed on ineffective services by local authorities. Not enough bins or not enough regular street cleaning. Yet, an interesting experiment that purposely removed bins saw an 80% reduction in littering. Two pilot projects in two different areas, delivered similar results. This without signage or major public announcements, showing that public behaviour could change, even without major effort.
Not all local councils may be willing to go that route, but it does highlight that perhaps the focus should be on encouraging personal responsibility. "You bring the rubbish, you take it back with you, don't leave it for someone else to clean up."
When people are more aware of waste, they may think twice about discarding items. It may even encourage them to use refillable containers rather than buying drinks in single use bottles. Reuse is a vastly underutilised waste management strategy. It's simple, it's effective, and it can save industries millions. But once again, it requires a culture change, people choosing to make the effort by remembering to take a bottle or container from home.
Perhaps the key is to shift the focus away from what makes life easier — bins on every corner, to what makes life better — less litter in the streets, less packaging, less waste. If we align solutions with making people and organisations take responsibility for what they use and how they discard it, we might, just perhaps, be able to usher in a clean environment mindset in the UK. a