Inquiry into litter launched

Members of the Rochdale Environmental Action Group found Coke cans, plastic bottles, sofa, wood and trolleys thrown into Rochdale Canal

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Litter remains an issue of local public concern, with levels of litter and fly-tipping failing to reduce substantially. This is despite campaigns and publicity aimed at changing public behaviour, and despite a range of legal powers and responsibilities that local councils and other bodies have. The costs of managing litter and fly-tipping are significant, Keep Britain Tidy puts a £1 billion plus annual price tag on managing litter and its knock-on impacts nationally.

The Communities and Local Government Committee is encouraging the public to get involved and submit evidence and photographs of litter or successful clean-up efforts. Written submissions are invited on how significant a problem litter and fly-tipping is, and whether current government policies are adequate and give local authorities enough autonomy to tackle the problem in local communities. Written evidence is invited from interested parties on:

• What problems do litter and fly-tipping create for local communities - is the situation improving or deteriorating? 
• How effective are the actions of those responsible for managing waste in tackling litter and fly-tipping in the local environment? What more should local councils, the Environment Agency, and Government funded bodies such as WRAP do? 
• Does the current statute, regulation and guidance set an effective framework to minimise litter and fly-tipping. What, if any, further changes are required? 
• What roles do and should the private citizen and campaign and action groups have in tackling litter? 

The Committee particularly welcomes any evidence from local authority scrutiny committees.

The Committee welcomes photographs illustrating problems with litter and fly-tipping and also before and after photographs where areas have been successfully cleaned up. Please tweet photographs to @commonsclg, using the hashtag #litterpix.

The Committee asks for written submissions in accordance with the guidelines below by 2.00pm on Thursday, 16 October 2014. Submissions should be no longer than 3,000 words.

Submissions should be uploaded onto the website in word format no later than the deadline.

Link to submit your evidence: 

Evidence submission form

Link to guidance on submitting written evidence:

Evidence submission guidance

If you have any problems with the web portal please contact David Nicholas, Senior Committee Assistant, on 0207 219 4972.