This guy was waiting beside me at the pedestrian lights.
Hi took out his last cigarette and threw the empty packet on the ground.
I said to him: do you mind not littering my town.
His response was a very simple message: f..k off.

Always bugs me when you see people throwing from cars – how hard would it be to put your rubbish in a plastic bag in the car?? All these lovely paving stones in our towns and cities covered in chewing gum.

I was in Australia a few years back at a National Park. A tourist flicked a cigarette on the ground, a local guy walked straight up and punched him in the face. Might have been a bit harsh, but I bet that guy will think twice before littering.

Avoid confrontation, you just embarrass the person and they’ll likely tell you to f— off.

I usually pick up any just-dropped wrapper or packaging and give it to the litterer with a ‘sorry mate, you dropped that’

I always get a startled ‘er, thanks’ and then they pocket it (and look at me like I’m a weirdo, which I probably am).

Not so good with dog mess, though…

A Guy dropped an empty cigarette box on the street in front of me. I said “Excuse me – you dropped something” to which he replied “Ah its ok love – it’s empty” . I pointed out the pin a few feet away and was promptly told to F off !!

Was driving to work one morning on the N25 to Cork from Youghal behind this van and the driver starts chucking stuff out the window, sandwich wrapper, drink can, etc – basically every few minutes he was chucking something else out. The van was a company vehicle and had the name, address and phone number of his employers. So I rang them and explained what was happening. Hope he got a bollocking.

Waling up O’Connell Street a few years ago, a woman walking ahead with a child of about six, helped him tear the paper off an ice pop. And she promptly threw the paper on the ground. I picked it up, walked up to her, handed her the paper and said: “I think you dropped this.” And in her best posh accent she replied: “Oh f**k off.” I told her she was a wonderful example to the child. Littering and foul language both in one minute.

Reported once about a dog owner who lets the dog out to poo on the foot path every morning (in Cork City on a busy street) early enough. Dog warden and litter wardens response, we don’t work that early so unless you photograph it and get an address nothing we can do. So why bother reporting, when 99% of the time nothing gets done about it.

I’ve also never seen a litter warden give someone an on the spot fine either. Has anyone else?

Ring the national environmental complaints line to report any littering or dumping : 1850 365 121
The line is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
You can also report Car Regs.

My mate would litter and when I would ask why he would reply “it keeps someone in a job”! I hated his attitude to littering, he just didn’t care! Frustrating.

I’ve done it on several occassions.

One event 3 years ago stuck in my mind due to the response I received. I was in Lisdoonvarna, Co. Clare walking home from work when, as I walked past, a local woman threw a empty water-bottle onto the pavement. I politely turned to her and said – like siobhan lynch does – “Excuse me, I think you dropped something!” (usually this results in something akin to a half-embarrassed “Oh right, sorry!”). BUT… She turns and tells me she doesn’t want it. I tell her it doesn’t matter if she wants it or not and that she should throw rubbish in the bin and not on the ground. I actually then picked it up and handed it to her… and that’s when she started off with her profanities referring to me as a “little s**t” asking about my family “since she didn’t know me” and once she found-out I was a blow-in (only living in Clare since 1992) she started to explain how her brother works for the council and that permits her to litter, because he keeps the streets clean! Logic wasn’t her strongest attribute!!!

Anyway, the response was crude and vulgar and she was… even worse than that! I was aghast at her and the entire situation and ended-up (after she had crossed the road ranting) having the bottle hurdled at me. I threw it in the bin to finish.

She’s a high-ranker in my list of encounters with utterly ignorant people! :)

Was on the Aran Islands last month and as I walked past a smoker he flicked his cigarette butt on the ground in front of me. I turned and asked him to pick it up – he was about 2 yards from a bin. He ignored me.

I know so many smokers who don’t consider cigarette butts litter. Needs to change.

A woman also let her dog crap in front of our gate, and didn’t pick it up and my dad saw and asked her where she lived, and would she mind if he took a crap outside her gate. She was horrified, absolutely horrified.

We actually had to ring the council about our neighbors. They refuse to leave out their rubbish for collection and won’t pay for a bin. It’s disgusting. They seem to like living in their own filth because they just leave it to pile up beside the house. Ugh!

Woman around the corner from me at work, persistantly throws rubbish out her front door. Leaves black bags of rubbish anywhere. I came to work one morning, 2 black bags outside our door, i called the Litter warden, he came really quick, photographed the evidence. We recently got her mail, by accident, she has a fine of 1300e….

Whenever I see someone drop something I get an adrenaline feeling in the pit of my stomach and I prepare what I want to say…before bailing out and giving them a filthy look instead. I wish I had the courage to say something, but if you’re the kind of disgusting pig that leaves your rubbish on the ground, one comment in passing probably won’t make s difference.

Was in a bad mood for some reason, and someone was going to bear the brunt of it. A taxi parks regularly across from my house, I was coming down the stairs and I just saw him dump some papers out the window…

Walked over to him, put the paper back in his window and told him he had dropped something, and that’d he want to be more careful or he could lose something. He thanked me initially, then said sorry.

BOOM BOOM BAM POW!

Yes, I always complain and invariably am met with a string of expletives. Anytime I see a dog owner allowing his mutt to evacuate his bowels on public property without picking it up(how can people do that?) I whip my phone out, take a picture and E-Mail it to the local dog warden. This usually results in the posting of many notices threatening fines of up to £1,000 if caught. Nobody is ever prosecuted.

Quite often lately in Dublin City I’ve observed people put on a new pair of runners in a public place, stick their old ones in the new shoebox and bung the box, bag and old shoes in the street. It’s baffling. I recently chastised someone for doing it, the key is not to come across as righteously indignant but to make them feel embarrassed and immature.

i would struggle to accept that there can be many people remaining out there truly ignorant to littering. seems to me the main problem here is laziness?
so my answer would be carrot and stick…….
a) we need more bins – emptied regularly and not kept in a condition that you’d feel bad for the litter having to go in there
b) pay for the bins with fines – €250 a pop – zero tolerance where its a sofa or a cigarette butt!

simple as that??

Strict and heavy fines. If Tommy up the road was fined 1000 euro for throwing his cig box on the road or path, then it would quickly adjust minds.

I always tell kids if I see them to pick it up and bin it but I’m not sure how brave I’d be with an unknown adult, I constantly nag at work about not recycling things like newspapers, cans and bottles in the black bin I take them out and move them to the recycle bin right beside it. I’ve seen parents tell kids to throw stuff on the ground or if the kid handed the parent the wrapper off something the parent slap the rubbish from the child’s hand onto the road, my pockets are always full of rubish if I see something I pick it up stick it in my pocket till I pass a bin.

@ Eamon Tiernan, i think you can ring the Envoirmental Protection Agency bout your neighbours. If its turning into a health hazard they can be court ordered to clean up. What a disgusting way to live…

Driving in the car with half an under 12 football team, the bully in the group threw a crisp packet out the sunroof. I immediately stopped the car and told him to get out and pick it up. He refused. Said I wasn’t going to move till he did. We stayed there for 5 minutes as the bag blew further away. He got out and picked up as closer bag. Didn’t matter, the point was made. Other kids were delighted. He threatened me with his father who is not a small man. At the next game his Dad told me how delighted he was by my action. Funny world.

Don’t be a quitter, pick up that litter!

Anyone ever driven behind a truck transporting a skip? Flimsy securing of their loads leads to rubbish all over the roads – are they ever prosecuted?

When I see someone drop there litter. I usually just say “excuse me, I think you dropped something?” catches them off guard. It worked a couple of times now. :)

just looking at that photo,there’s a buggy dumped there,surely someone spotted that,?that’s extracting the Michael I must say

i had the unlucky sight of seeing the bin lorry driver hop out of the truck the other morning walk around to the other side and take a Piss!! right outside my front window and next to a green area where the kids play during the day.. i rang the company to complain and suggest that the driver if caught short should just ring the doorbell in future id let him use the toilet… to my surprise about an hour later the truck came back and driver rang doorbell holding a bottle of domestos and asked if he could have a bucket of water to clean the area where he pissed…..

In the pub where I work we alllways telll the smokers to bring all their cigs. butts home with them.And if they dont we barr them for a month.There is no fear of them droping pay silps because none work.

Well I gave the woman from the estate around the corner a filthy look for bringing her dog to crap on the green of our estate where the kids play.

I’ll stick my hand up to being one of those “I think you dropped this” people..

Me and a gang of friends went on a litter cleaning buzz around our estate when we were about 10.. Did it 3 days running and filled about 6 big bags every day – we were told to stop (it hadn’t occurred to us that our parents would be expected to pay for its disposal)..

The lads in the pub say a lot of people put their houshold rubbish in the street bins .Because they cant afford the bin charge,so there is no room for ordinary litter, thats why its on the street.

If you aren’t willing to complain about people littering at least in their earshot then you deserve to wallow in their filth.

my da pre programmed us as kids to call people a ltterbug when they threw something on the ground.think it had the opposite effect as the bigger lads used to throw stuff on the ground just to hear us say it for the craic.street was in rag order by the time we finished ’3 and your in’

I was in the zoo recently with my young Godson and I confronted 3 young litter louts and we had to leave the zoo

Littering is a means of expression in Ireland, usually an expression of patheticness , or rebellion or even a cry for help. Which of course is all very pathetic. There is a big civic disconnect in Ireland, and especially in Dublin.

i told a man in the street to pick up his cig. butt and he obeyed my order .I then told him that he will have bad health if he didnt stop smoking, He thanked me for the health advice and said sorry,Ps I allways try and do the right thing.

My kids! Little litter bugs! :)