A Brighton waste campaigner has been documenting fly-tipping in Brighton to help a Commons investigation into litter on Britain’s streets.
Cat Fletcher has joined the #litterpix campaign to give the Local Government select committee evidence of how rubbish is blighting the environment.
MPs asked members of the public to tweet pictures and suggestions to them using the hashtag #litterpix.
Cat, who runs Brighton’s Freegle group, said: I’ve been taking photos of waste for years. This was a great opportunity for me to send them somewhere strategic.
“I don’t think the situation is any worse no than it ever has been, but there’s an increase in the way we can share our disapproval.
“People leaving things out on the street may think they’re being generous, but they’re just being lazy and disorganised. The law says if you put your possessions on a public street, it’s fly-tipping.
“The council spends £23million a year on household waste. They have a legal duty to remove anything dumped in the public realm, and there’s no obligation on them to recycle it.”
She agreed with some local councillors that communal bins have become a magnet for fly-tipping, but added: “People are going to dump stuff anyway, and at least in terms of mopping up the mess it makes it a bit more efficient. I genuinely don’t think there’s any more fly-tipping in Brighton than there was 20 years ago.
“The issue is making people aware of all the options they have got – we have to make people realise it’s completely unacceptable to be that pathetic with their own stuff. It’s not the council’s responsibility to dispose of your rubbish, it’s yours.”
