Belfast City brand littering as ‘socially unacceptable’

Belfast City Council has launched a major £300,000 anti-litter publicity initiative, ‘Litter. Don’t Drop it – Stop it!’ with the aim of making littering socially unacceptable.

Research revealed that men over 30-years-old, young adults and teenagers are the groups most likely to deliberately litter the streets of Belfast, while at the other end of the scale, family women and older couples are least likely to litter and are among those most concerned about the issue.

The findings were unveiled on the launch of a major anti-litter publicity campaign featuring six-year-old Belfast girl Lauren McDonald.

Councillor Gerard O’Neill, chairman of Belfast City Council’s Contract Service’s committee, which has spearheaded the initiative, said that while only 60% of people admitted to littering the research suggested that most people have littered at some time in their lives.

He said: “Littering is now a major social problem and we are embarking on a three pronged initiative to tackle it, including shared responsibility, education and enforcement.

“We are calling on public representatives, statutory organisations, business people, ratepayers, visitors to our city, community groups, young people and the media to play their part in reducing litter and increasing the sense of social responsibility."

Councillor O'Neil said Belfast City Council spend £9 million-a -year on street cleaning - considerably more than other cities of a similar size across the UK- and this, he said, was "virtually scooping ratepayer’s money off our streets and throwing it on a rubbish dump".

“The publicity campaign and advertisements are designed to make people aware of their individual responsibilities and that littering is socially unacceptable through education. Research has shown that there are people out there who could be described as the careless majority, those who are willing to change their ways, and it is those people we are targeting," he said.

Last year, the Council's enforcement team issued over 600 £25 fixed penalty fines for littering. That figure is set to rise with the recent appointment of a six-person team dedicated to issuing on-the-spot fines, which will be increased to £50 at the end of March.

Posters and a range of community and schools projects aimed at highlighting the issue will complement the campaign of television and radio advertisements.

(SP)