Valerie Hill: Free to make as much mess as we want

Sep 26 2008 by Valerie Hill, Liverpool Daily Post

IT WAS one of those phrases that struck a chord about 10 years ago and was endlessly repeated. The American writer Bill Bryson, writing about a tour of Britain, found himself in Liverpool, amid a mini-whirlwind of sweet papers, fast -food wrappers and cigarette cartons.

The effect was if, he said, of catching Liverpool while it was celebrating "a Festival of Litter". No other remark in recent memory has galvanized citizens and civic leaders to try and stem this problem which blights so many of our cities and towns.

For litter means slobbiness, a lack of concern about your own territory, a visual shorthand to sloppy standards in other aspects of life.

Another American critic, PJ O'Rourke, wrote that litter was also a by-product of the consumer society. He visited Moscow during the Communist era when there was no litter. Returning years later, after the collapse of Communism, he found the free market complete with Western-style freedoms, such as the choice to buy a McDonald's burger. And – hey presto! – this also creates the freedom to have rubbish and drop it.

We're in no position to be smug, especially in the North- West. A government survey found that more than half of Britain suffers from unacceptable levels of rubbish. Knowsley and Wigan were near the top of the rubbish heap in the Keep Britain Tidy survey, rated as "poor", Another 187 councils had "unsatisfactory" levels of litter, while the rest were found to be no more than "satisfactory". Only one, Kennet, in Wiltshire, was deemed to be "good", probably due to the low population.

We're all familiar with the litter top five: cigarette ends (which don't bio-degrade) and packets, sweet and chocolate wrappers, drink cans and cartons, snack food packaging and finally alcoholic drink cans and bottles.

The rest of the top 10 is equally depressing, but obvious: paper tissues, discarded food and drink, till receipts and plastic carrier bags. In number eight place was vehicle parts, and I remember when we viewed our first properties about 20 years ago, being shown around a flat where the owner had a discarded car exhaust poking out from under his bed.

The good news is all 353 council areas of England were found to have fly-tipping and graffiti under control. Graffiti is another bete noir of mine, and I was horrified to find my 12-year-old son had bought a book from Tate Liverpool Gallery shop lauding this scourge as an art form.

Besides, how come I'm always exposed to the awful scrawlings of bloated, spray-can lettering on walls, but never see the clever stuff read out on Radio 4's Quote Unquote, such as: "I think therefore I am – Descartes, I am therefore I do – Nietzsche, Do be do be do – Frank Sinatra"?