Wander through your local town or city during the early hours of the daybreak and you will discover an army of road sweepers moving slowly around tidying up the rubbish strewn around by all the partying of the previous night. It’s a typical early daybreak scene, particularly the beeping noise! We don’t often give rubbish a consideration as we take for granted it will all be cleaned up for us.

Yet, there is a sometimes imperceptible yet significant impact litter plays on human psychology. We are more liable to think an area is less well policed if rubbish is strewn around, and thus criminals see litter as a potential signal for a chance of a mugging or robbery. The very same signal produces some fear in other people who are concerned they might be walking into a more dangerous location and are concerned about possibly being attacked.

There’s also the impact on the visual appeal of a neighbourhood. Rubbish lying around can give the appearance of an area looking unkempt even though it’s only been “abused” by people from the night before. This can harm the reputation of a place if individuals are only within the area for this particular time and only view it in its littered state.

Prevention is always better than cure when it comes to litter. There’s no reason to throw litter if there are empty litter bins around the neighbourhood. If there is a lack of rubbish bins, or the rubbish bins that are there are stuffed, this is a matter to address the local council with. Littering has a damaging impact on everybody.