If the concept of ‘the polluter pays’ were applied to the the takeaway food, drink and cigarette industries (who together account for over 70 % of litter dropped) a sum of money would be available to help clear up the rubbish which blights our motorway verges,hedgerows and streets. If a deposit return scheme were to be introduced for metal drink cans,drink bottles,cigarette packets and takeaway food boxes then a disincentive to drop litter and an incentive to pick up litter would simultaneously be created.
The money raised by producer responsibility payments could be used to fund the provision of gloves,litter picking forceps and collection bins or sacks for rough sleepers who would then be able to earn their way out of poverty by claiming back the deposits on the items of litter collected.Like the ‘Big Issue’ vendors they would benefit from an increase in self esteem because they would no longer be dependent on charity .Further jobs for rough sleepers could be created in the reception and processing of the litter collected.
Would it work? Very similar schemes have proved successful elsewhere. In 1971 the state of Oregon passed a law requiring that all soft drinks cans and bottles carry a redemption value of 5 cents. In 1991 90% of all drink bottles and cans sold were redeemed.Rough sleepers have been liberated from their subsistence existence. They make a living by collecting discarded cans and bottles from the streets and verges .Some have even created business empires bidding for the rights to collect litter from sports stadiums and then employing later generations of rough sleepers to collect the litter.
This simple and cost neutral scheme could provide the solution to two of the major scandals of our wealthy society – the abject poverty of those people sleeping rough on the streets of the fifth wealthiest country in the world and the desecration of our green and pleasant land by the dropping of mountains of litter.
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