What is the plastics industry doing about litter?

Here at the BPF we are frequently responding to media enquiries and participating in interviews regarding litter in the urban and marine environment. Understandably, this issue is high on the environmental agenda. Far too much plastic and other litter is ending up in the natural environment and making its way to the ocean. So what is the plastics industry doing about litter and what has it got to do with eyes painted on walls?

Litter prevention

Prevention is ultimately better than a cure. The industry is therefore focusing its efforts on creating a society where it is culturally unacceptable to drop litter, to prevent litter from ever existing. Clean ups are part of this solution. We know that litter breeds litter, so it is a good idea to clean up as quickly as possible. However, if we could prevent litter from ever being dropped in the first place, we could make a real difference.

The offence of littering [1] occurs when someone throws down, drops or otherwise deposits litter and leaves it there. This includes cigarettes, chewing gum, cigars, and other similar products.[2]

Another way of understanding litter, is to consider it as resource in the wrong place. It’s useful to understand litter as resource, rather than waste, because the items discarded can usually be recycled to create new products or converted to energy to power our homes. Littering doesn’t just create an unpleasant visual impact and damage the environment – it  removes resources from our economy.

If we want to prevent littering from taking place, we need to address the root cause of the behaviour. Consequently, many of the initiatives that the plastics industry engages in are focused on changing behaviour, encouraging pride in our public spaces and developing a culture where it is unacceptable to litter.

Anyone who’s ever tried to start a new exercise regime, adhere to a new diet or challenge the culture of a workplace knows that behaviour change and cultural change are not easy and cannot be achieved overnight. They involves experimenting with creative solutions, such as painting “watchful eyes” which create the impression that people are being observed* or using topical ballot bins to capture people’s attention and emotion. It’s a long game, it’s trial and error and it’s aimed at delivering enduring solutions that address all types of litter.

*Recent research found that people are less likely to drop litter if it has printed eyes on it. [3] Initiatives are now looking into whether this works with eyes painted on walls as well. 

So, what does this look like? Here are some examples of what we’ve been doing to prevent litter in the urban and marine environment.

Industry work to address litter

#NeatStreets

#NeatStreets is anti-littering campaign supported by the plastics which took place in Villiers Street, London. The project used innovative methods of behaviour change to challenge and change littering behaviour. Run by Hubbub, #NeatStreets drew on developing a sense of community and using targeted, evidence-based infrastructure such as interactive bins and cigarette ballot bins. #NeatStreets resulted in a 26% reduction of litter in Villiers St and produced resources for other local communities to carry out similar projects. Hubbub are now running workshops to teach local authorities how to deliver creative and impactful anti-litter campaigns. 100% of attendees have registered interest in running #NeatStreets locally.

#FFSLDN For Fish’s Sake
The BPF is contributing to an exciting new campaign aimed at preventing litter from entering the Thames. For Fish’s Sake #FFSLDN, run by Hubbub is a positive, playful campaign, which aims to encourage London’s residents, commuters and tourists to take action to help reduce the amount of litter that ends up in the River Thames.  People walking between Waterloo Bridge and Tower Bridge over the coming months will encounter a number of engaging initiatives from voting bins to ‘grate art’ to help change the public’s perception and behaviours around litter and highlight the need to protect and cherish the Thames and surrounding waterways. It is currently understood that bottles that do enter the Thames tend to wash up and down the river on the tide, remaining in the Thames for some time. Read more

Litter Strategy for England
The BPF was an enthusiastic contributor to the first ever Litter Strategy for England. The Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) Strategy recognises the importance of behaviour change, education and infrastructure and enforcement. It also proposes setting up several working groups to take the issue forward.

CSI: Litter Challenge
The plastics industry worked with MCS on CSI: Litter Challenge. This was a project working with year 5 -8 to teach them about why litter occurs and the impact it has. It also helped the children to see the value plastic has. Part of the project was for the students to develop their own litter campaign. The winning school developed a campaign aimed at secondary school which encourages the students to use litter bins and recycle by using rewards. This campaign is now being developed and promoted to other secondary schools.

Marine Litter Action Network
The BPF and the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) created the Marine Litter Action Network (MLAN), which the industry helped to fund. MLAN brings together people from a variety of organisations (NGOs, academics, decision makers) to take coordinated action on marine litter. MLAN also includes an educational initiative that teaches young people about the ocean and the importance of looking after our environment.

Operation Clean Sweep®
Although pellet loss is currently thought to represent less than 1% of primary microplastic in the environment, the BPF runs this industry-led initiative to reduce plastic pellet loss.[4]

The implementation manual helps companies to audit their sites, set up their worksite, train staff, and create procedures to ensure their factories are free of rogue pellets and that the risk of them escaping into the wider environment is minimised. The UK was an early adopter of this international programme. There are currently 90 companies signed up.

www.operationcleansweep.co.uk

Although the plastics industry is working hard to tackle litter in the UK, the majority of litter finding its way into the seas and oceans around the UK comes from elsewhere[5], so it is vitally important action is taken by the other counties as well.