Raising awareness of litter in Fulston and the community By Student Voice

What is litter? Litter is commonly described as “rubbish that is in the wrong place”. Types of rubbish can range from packaging to food, chewing gum or cans.

Why is litter a problem? Most litter is not biodegradable, this means that it will take longer to rot or not rot at all. Biodegradable litter is usually made from a substance that was once living and will eventually degrade, sometimes turning into fertiliser or other useful materials.

How long does litter take to degrade?

Why do we need to stop littering? Litter costs a lot of money, for example, in Scotland £53 million is spent on dealing with litter. It affects the environment. It does not make cities, towns or community areas look presentable. Fires can start from the reflection of glass left in sunlight. Food litter attracts pests such as rats and seagulls. It can kill and harm wildlife, trapping them or making it difficult for them to survive.

What is being done about littering? Most citizens have to pay taxes which help to clean our streets, if there was less litter we wouldn’t have to pay as much. Any people who are caught littering have to pay an £80 fine. If litter is dropped the land owners have to pick it up, this could be in public areas such as schools, parks etc.

What can you do to reduce waste? Buy things with less packaging included. Use re-usable storage containers. Use metal cutlery instead of plastic ones. Use bags for life instead of plastic bags. If there are no bins around then you could hold on to the litter until an available bin is found.

How to reduce waste around the school Put your rubbish in the right bin. Don’t take food outside of house area. Do litter duty, even if its not your week. Instead of dropping litter in house area, put it in the bin. There are lots of bins around school which are there for you to use.

Remember to reduce reuse and recycle Remember to reduce reuse and recycle! Thank you for listening and watching our presentation