HOW MUCH LONGER CAN HAVERING PUT UP WITH LAZY PEOPLE THROWING THEIR RUBBISH ON THE FLOOR OR FLY TIPPING?

28th September 202628th September 2026 Francesca Lilleystone 0 Comments Fly tipping, Havering, Parks, Town Centres min read

Dirty town centres, overflowing litter bins, food packaging scattered across pavements, cans and plastic bottles dumped on the streets, cigarette butts ground into the pavement and chewing gum stuck everywhere are becoming a familiar sight across Havering. But while councils can clean our streets, provide bins and deep clean town centres, there comes a point when we have to ask a very simple question: how much of the blame should be placed on the people who simply cannot be bothered to put their rubbish in a bin?

Romford town centre has recently been given a deep clean, with Havering Council also planning similar work in other town centres.

But a deep clean can only go so far.

If people continue throwing rubbish on the floor immediately after the cleaners have been through, the cycle simply starts all over again.

And this is not just about town centres.

Take St Andrew’s Park in Hornchurch.

There are bins positioned around the park, yet rubbish can still be left scattered across the grass, benches and pathways.

Teenagers arrive with bags of food, sit together and eat their lunch.

The bin can be just a few metres away.

Yet instead of taking the empty packaging with them and putting it in the bin, some simply leave the bags on the bench or throw them onto the ground before walking away.

Why?

What exactly makes somebody believe that their food packaging is somebody else’s responsibility?

The same attitude can be seen in our town centres.

A person finishes a drink or unwraps a takeaway.

There is a bin nearby.

But rather than walking a few steps, the wrapper or can is simply dropped onto the pavement.

Then somebody else has to pick it up.

It is not a difficult message.

If you bring it with you, take it home or put it in a bin.

And then there is the even bigger problem of fly-tipping.

Havering has a designated civic amenity site at Gerpins Lane where residents can dispose of household waste and unwanted items.

Yet across the borough, unwanted furniture and other rubbish can still end up dumped on roadsides, pavements, verges and in wooded areas.

Sofas, mattresses, cupboards, bags of rubbish and other unwanted items do not magically appear in our streets.

Someone has put them there.

Someone has made the decision to leave their waste where somebody else will eventually have to deal with it.

And that is the part that needs to change.

There are residents across Havering who take enormous pride in their homes and their neighbourhoods.

They sweep outside their properties.

They pick up litter.

They report fly-tipping.

They care about their streets.

They want their children to grow up in clean and attractive neighbourhoods.

And then they look out of their front doors and see somebody else’s rubbish dumped on the pavement.

It is frustrating.

It is unfair.

And increasingly, residents are asking why those who do the right thing should have to put up with those who simply do not care.

Of course, councils have a responsibility.

Streets need cleaning.

Bins need emptying.

Fly-tipping needs investigating and, where possible, enforcement action needs to follow.

But residents have a responsibility too.

No council, no matter how much money it spends, can keep a town centre clean if people are determined to throw rubbish on the floor.

Cleaners cannot possibly follow every person around picking up the packaging they have deliberately discarded.

And no amount of deep cleaning will solve a problem that begins with individual behaviour.

Perhaps it is time to stop treating litter as somebody else’s problem.

Perhaps it is time for parents to remind their children that a public park is not their personal rubbish bin.

Perhaps it is time for young people sitting in our parks to look at the bin beside them and actually use it.

Perhaps it is time for adults to do the same.

And perhaps those considering dumping a sofa, mattress or pile of rubbish in a country lane should ask themselves how they would feel if somebody dumped it outside their own front door.

Because Havering belongs to all of us.

Our parks belong to all of us.

Our town centres belong to all of us.

Our streets belong to all of us.

There are people who care deeply about where they live.

They should not have to watch their neighbourhoods being ruined by people who cannot be bothered to carry their rubbish a few metres to the nearest bin.

Enough is enough.

Keep your town clean.

Keep your streets clean.

Take your rubbish home or put it in a bin.

And stop leaving the mess for everyone else to deal with.

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