Why litter is surging in Sheffield as lockdown restrictions ease

Residents have embraced the opportunity to enjoy the city’s green space in recent weeks, but images of the mounds of rubbish left in their wake have caused outrage and resulted in pleas by Sheffield Council urging visitors to take their litter home.

Alongside this, there has been a surge in the number of reports online to the authority complaining about overflowing rubbish bins, needles being left on the floor, and flytipping.

One of the worst areas reported to Sheffield Council through the FixMyStreet website was Sheaf Valley Park, with numerous reports of full bins.

A Streets Ahead spokesperson said: “Like many parks in Sheffield, Sheaf Valley Park has been particularly busy over recent weeks, leading to an increase in litter being left by a small minority of people. The increase in visitors has also led to many of the litter bins in the area filling up much quicker than usual.

“We are working very closely with the council and other contractors to tackle the ongoing issue of litter around parks and nearby streets, with bins being monitored and emptied more frequently in some areas, to prevent a build up of litter on the streets.

“With more venues across the city reopening, we continue to urge everyone to act responsibly and to take litter home with them if the bins nearby are already full.

“People should report litter issues to us via the council’s website at www.sheffield.gov.uk/report.”

Sheffield Council said it had increased waste collection services in the city’s parks following further complaints about litter being consistently left behind by visitors.

The authority also revealed that its contractors Amey and Veolia are currently clearing in excess of four tonnes of waste per day from Endcliffe Park and the Porter Valley.

Teams are working seven days a week, from 6am until 8pm, emptying bins and litter picking, while many residents have been helping out across the city in the clear-up.

Last week a group of selfless volunteers cleared litter from Norfolk Heritage Park in an effort to reduce the burden on park rangers.

Posting on social media, the Friends of Sheaf Valley Park group said: “Thank you so much to our (distanced!) community for joining our Norfolk Heritage Park litter pick tonight, doing what we can to keep our area looking nice.

"We hope this helps support the park rangers, who are having a very trying time at the moment keeping on top of all the rubbish.”

But what is it about the current situation that is driving this surge in litter?

Lockdown rules have transformed the way we socialise, with many more of us visiting parks and green spaces to meet others and stay socially distanced therefore increasing the amount of rubbish that is produced outside of homes.

However, others suggest it may simply be down to the fact that caring for the environment isn’t on many people’s top list of priorities right now.

Professor Madelynne Arden, a behavioural psychology expert at Sheffield Hallam, said there are a variety of factors which can affect whether someone litters or not.

"Social norms can be important; if we see an area with lots of litter we are more likely to litter ourselves,” she said. “Role models can also be important, if we see other people disposing of their litter responsibly this can impact positively on what we do ourselves, but of course if we see others littering this could have the opposite effect.

“Environmental factors are also important - the easier it is to throw rubbish away the more likely we are to do it, so the position of bins and making sure they are not over-full can be important.

“We may want to encourage people to take their litter home instead but this can require a bit of planning, for example having a suitable bag to put it in.

"This probably also requires that we have communications and messages that explain exactly what we want people to do – please take your rubbish home with you.

“Why we want them to do it – more people than usual are using our parks so we do not have enough space in the bins for everyone's rubbish at the moment.

"What the outcome will be – if we work together to keep our parks clean and tidy everyone will be able to enjoy them.”

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