Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

What do you think of the state of the Suffolk countryside? Why not support our campaign by pledging below that you're not a tosser.

kate pen
i think that it is not fair that people are chucking liter about so i think that thay shoud get more people that are throwing it to clen it up

Marian
"Facebook" has a "Don't be a tosser" group, but it seems to be based in Australia. Why not set up one for Suffolk and the UK to spread the word from county to county. It would be interesting to see how many people you could get to join by Christmas.

Mark Casto Bungay Cherry Tree AC
The don't be a tosser campaign is brilliant, we fully back it and support it and say it loud and clear, DON'T BE A TOSSER! keep Suffolk litter free!

shelby wilton
i think if people made the town more cleaner, then more people would like to go out on waalks with there dogs or just go out for walks on there own

Christine Martin
I have just returned from a walk through the woods and yet again noticed the abundance of colourful plastic bags decorating the trees and hedgerows. These seem to be multipling daily by dog owners clearing up after their animals and lobbing the contents as far and high as possible! I think this is worse than leaving the mess as it will never degrade hanging in the trees and the owners are obviously aware that they should be clearing up after their animals.

Jacqui, Felixstowe
A14 junction 61 Felixstowe docks is in a disgusting state. Plastic bottles obviously thrown by lorry drivers & the dock is in sight. Their final destination. I just cannot understand why they cannot keep it in their cab until they have completed their journey & dispose of properly. What about some roadside signs at known blackspot areas. Although if they are brainless enough to chuck litter would they understand the signs?

Jenny Toombs
When a friend and I were visiting Aldeburgh and Thorpeness last Saturday, we were horrified to see what seemed miles of white toilet paper festooning the bushes along the road. We had seen this before, about two weeks ago, and it was all over Thorpeness and part of the Aldringham road. It looked absolutely disgusting and it appears nobody is bothering to do anything about it. Have any of your other listeners noticed this? Visitors to our beautiful coast must be shocked and horrified by this foul mess.Far from being a tosser, I try and pick up litter in the car-park by my home, whenever I see any. Best of luck with this terrific campaign!

John, Ipswich
Came to the Copdock roundabout from Colchester on a coach last week. The verges look good, but the central reservation is full of litter - not so obvious from a car. This can't be cleared by the public - whose job is it?

Margaret in Felixstowe
Noticed this morning a very large lorry tyre on the slip road leading to dock no 2 gate. Someone obviously had a puncture and just left it there!!

Patsy
I 'spose you wouldn't like litter-bugger either ;o)

BC
The A14 between Bury St Edmunds and Cambridge is looking cleaner.Have tidy-up teams been out and about - or is the grass growing!

Dave Phillips
I live in Lowestoft and yesterday I saw a member of the Cleansing staff out picking up litter. I found it encouraging that the local council seem to be making an effort.

A.Bailey
Couldn't agree with you more.Have been really concerned of late by litter on road side.eg slip road by suger beet factory in Bury, A14, slip road after Woolpit turning.

Louise
I told you I was going to clean up my local stretch of rural roadside for the third time since August - I collected a full, heavy bin bag last week, resisting the temptation to lighten it by not emptying the plastic bottle with pale liquid inside, knowing what you'd found. The bin men took the bag, and the 2 hub caps, mud flap and bits of wood I also left for them - more sensible than the Foxhall Road people who refused Woodbridge's rubbish! Today I got another bag full along another of our village roads, and will return for the rest soon.I look for new rubbish or bits I missed as I walk our piece of road. My husband's irritated because I slow him down, but he started looking too last night after I found a Β£20 note!Keep up your good work, it must make a difference, but will the tossers ever change? I doubt it...

neil
margaret and patsy get a life, you want to call it ''dumper'' ask any child what their interpretation of that would be

Tony
with you all the way Mark. But Patsy said the word tosser makes her cringe and would like to use the word dumper. the mind boggles.

Jimmy Patton
I lived in Ipswich for many years and I return as often as I can. I now live in a small village in Florida. Each time I return to Ipswich it grieves me to see the amount of waste thrown out by the young and old alike. It's upsetting to see the town I love so much look so dirty and unkept. I'm saddened to think people today don't care about their surrondings or the place where they live. Good Luck in your campaign! I wish I could be there to pitch in. No pun intended! I'm a big proponent of offenders of minor crimes being used in campaigns like this.

John Day from Lowestoft
I wasadelivery driver years ago, taking car parts throughout Norfolk for retail Ford dealer. After finishing my days hurtling round the countryside, I tidied the transit van and had a break before driving back to base. I stopped at Rackheath layby (this was in the early 1980's) and was so disgusted at the rubbish there, I wrote a long prose/poem about it. So your present campaign is good to bring this bad habit into focus, well done.

Mr. David Long
I 100% support your initiative Mark, but my concern is about that this may be a short term solution only. I would like to see more punitive measures being enforced against those that commit the offence of dropping litter, & then when people are found guilty for the newspapers to "headline" the fact. I also think that education must play a big part & that this is linked to being proud of your enviroment & for everyone to play their part. That is young & old alike, & for those that do well to recieve recognition for what they have done

irene edwards
The litter in suffolk is a disgrace. Thank you for trying to address this problem.It is inappropriate to talk about a green county when the state of the roadsides and countrysideis such a disgrace

Geoff Beech
Have listen to your exposure of the blight we have imposed on ourselves with interest. The French supermarkets took action and banned the use of plastic bags and the people accepted this decision with out complaint. Where is our courage.

gill gobbitt
Driving around suffolk i notice alot of roundabouts being beautiful and well kept due i guess to them being sponsorsed by local companys.I think firms like medite or maersk and haulage companys whos lorrys use felixstowe port and stop on the A14,A12 laybyes should sponsor these places and help to clear up the terrible mess they are in.

Patsy Riggs
I sincerely do not wish to detract from the usual admirable work of Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Suffolk on this campaign – BUT … Do we want to hear our little ones singing and shouting DON’T BE A TOSSER? OR indeed singing about pee pee !!! Sorry guys – I am a great fan of Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio Suffolk and appreciate the opportunity to be part of it’s community but this is just my opinion particularly when involving the whole family in controlling litter.

Glynis Wood
Local authorities are involved in sorting the mess left along the A14. The local partnership between several local authorities has had a contract with the Highways Agency contractors which they all contibuted extortionate amounts of money to clear the A14 verges of litter. The agreement was not as successfull as we would have wished and new proposals are being implemented to improve the situation. We have run many campaigns and recommended signs along the A14 "dont be a tosser" this was not favoured politically or by the HA who do not permit signs on major routes unless approved for road safety. We would love to get this problem sorted and need everyones help, so thanks for the campaign, it may be a long haul!

Brian C
Fantastic work, Mark. The A14 right through to Cambridge is such a sadness. I get the feeling the various 'authorities' have been saying it's not our problem - so nothing gets done. It was good to hearthe County Council leader promising action. Keep him to it. Hopefully local councils will follow suit.But the pressure needs to be maintained.

margaret
quite agree with you Patsy, very childish, along with the song with "wee wee"to advertise it! Probably be something along the lines of behind the bike shed next. Someone really ought to get a life!

andrew nunny
I am the community warden for sudbury and gt cornard and a lot of my time is taken up with litter other thaan picking it up all day and every day i go in to the local schools and tryto educate the y0ung people can you help with some publicity thanks

Angela
The situation is just as bad on the heathland behind Martlesham Tescos and on Felixstowe Road. Lots of plastic bags in the bushes and trees and I refuse to believe these have all been dropped by customers. Tescos should do something to clean this area up.

Patsy
The initiative is admirable but the word tosser makes me flinch – why couldn’t it have been dumper or something less cringing?

Roger Green
Thr litter lots problem stems from their upbringing if parents ignore teaching their children the importance of taking home their rubbish then the result is for all to see in our countryside. Ever since the returnable bottle concept was stopped the throw away mentality has infected us. No longer do people take pride in their locality they adopt the don't care less attitude and will leave it for someone else to pick up. The only way to change people is to hit them in their pocket and if they saw an increase in their Council Tax for this service then and only then would they start to think. In USA they have no problem with litter why because the state and the area gets named and shamed on local TV and that works wonders!

mary
Sheila Urquhart, you said it all

David
Planning Notices & Road Closure notices put up by County & District councils are NEVER removed by them when they are no longer relevant. Worst of all is they are laminated so will never decompose !

Jeremy Gugenheim
What about the hedges full (and I mean FULL) of lost carriers bags outside the Copdock Tesco? While I have no doubt that they'll just blame their customers, I don't see heaps of lost shopping underneath them... It's your mess Tesco: Clean it up.

Torrington Family
Well done Mark on highlighting the dreadful state of the Suffolk roadsides - we completely agree. We live in Holton St Mary, and coicidentally decided a few weeks ago that at the beginning of the school holidays we would have big clean up of the slip road at the end of our drive - this is B1070 running up to Ipswich-bound A12. We (Dominic 10, Martha 8 and Lydia 6, plus mother) are hoping to start tomorrow. From what we can see there is even a roll of black bin bags there to help us get started! Also we are not going to shop at Tescos at Copdock anymore until they tidy up the trees opposite their store! And a couple of weeks ago we followed a WASTE RECYCLING lorry up the A12 one morning and the driver proceeded to throw the rubbish from his breakfast out of his window as he went along, I took the details but rather wimped out of reporting him - wish I had kept them now as I could have passed them onto you!

Louise
I'll soon be litter picking the quarter mile stretch of road side that I've done twice since August Bank Holiday. A pretty rural country road, people don't care what they do to our lovely countryside.Would you also please like to start another campaign - Don't be a turd, pick up your dog's pooh? We get fed up picking it up on our feet when we go for walks.

Sheila Urquhart
The A14 verges are an eyesore and I suggest that on a regular basis groups of yobs who have been sentenced to community service should be made to litter pick - perhaps they would then think twice about dropping litter themselves.

Neal Evans
I've wrote to the various District and Borough councils last year and followed up again less than a month ago. WS Atkins on behalf of the Highways Agency is apparently responsible for the A14, but despite my plea do not consider the situation bad enough! 'Suffolk's Shame' is what I call it and the 'Ribbon of Flith' that runs through our lovely county. The bins in the lay bys are a brilliant idea, sadly they seem to be ignored by the road users.

Jane Halls
At the roundabout at St Augustine's Ipswich. Always overflowing with rubbish - mostly from the KFC shop. People do try to put by the bins - but the bins are not large enough to take a weekend's amount of KFC! I have contacted IBC on 2 occasions, but they dont actually seem to take on board that the bins currently provided are inadequate for the people using the area. Thank you for starting this topic as it is something i feel very passionate about. I often pick up rubbish from my area - much to my children's embassment! Maybe the next topic, should be a follow on for picking up after your dog!

Andy Collins
I've been following the series "Ice Road Truckers" on channel 5 recently. No litter there, no bottles of wee discarded!! And its around -30degrees out there. Perhaps if the trucks were fitted with a small "portaloo" such those found in caravans and motor-homes this problem would go away. After al, these trucks are fitted with state of the art entertainment systems, sat-nav etc, so why not meet the most basic of needs?