How often have you walked into your office washroom and seen toilet tissue spilling from the toilet roll holders or slimy soap dripping on surfaces from soap dispensers?
Many employees are disgusted when they use their office bathrooms because litter bugs leave dirty paper towels crumpled around the room, toilets go unflushed and towel dispensers are empty.
Unfortunately this is the case in thousands of toilets across the UK and a recent experiment by the British Cleaning Council exposed the indifference the British public has to litter.
The BCC has asked the public to take more responsibility for their rubbish.
The caution came after an experiment launched by Keep Britain Tidy had organisers stop picking up litter and emptying bins for a weekend in London’s Hyde Park.
It was featured on BBC’s The One Show recently to a shocked audience.
The experiment focused on a corner of London’s largest park – between Speakers’ Corner and Reformers’ Tree.
“With the cuts to local authority budgets expected, we are likely to see a reduction in the number of staff available to clear up after the public,” Mark Woodhead, Chairman of the British Cleaning Council, said.
“This timely experiment has highlighted the damaging effect of litter when government intervention is removed.
“While the results were very disappointing, it helps emphasise the point that everybody needs to take more responsibility for their rubbish in order to make our environments more pleasant for everybody.”
As the rubbish piled high, organisers monitored visitors’ responses to the unattractive site. Visitors were not made aware that it was actually an experiment.
The severity of the waste that accumulated during the experiment, a full lorry-load, took 25 volunteers and park staff more than 2 hours to clean.
If you are interested in the British Cleaning Council and its upcoming events, it will hold its annual Conference in London on 11 October. You can find out more information on its work or purchase tickets to the conference at the web site:
www.britishcleaningcouncil.org/cleaningconference.html