Litter on your river

Living in the Dearne Valley in South Yorkshire I do try and get the best from my local rivers such as the Dearne, Don and Rother. Its not that Im tight with fuel, but work is a utter pain in the arse so short sessions on local rivers is all I generally manage. The question of litter is again driving me mad, is it because of the school holidays but there seems to be more angling litter on the rivers than normal this year. I know I shouldnt always be pointing the finger at youngsters, but last weekend i picked up 2 full carrier bags full of angling litter as well as empty beer cans. Is it just South Yorks or is your river just as bad. !

Andy

The Thames Anglers Conservancy have filled over 80 bin bags of litter from the banks of the Thames just from Walton down to Teddington this season. We've got some spots to clear that will push that to near 100 soon. Some is angling litter - we can't kid ourselves, though much is also from picnics and BBQs.

When you think there's also other organisations and individuals clearing litter and TAC alone has filled 80 bin bags that's a disgusting amount.

On a positive note, TAC are showing thru their actions to other Thames users/groups/councils that proper anglers care as much, if not more, than anyone about the river.

It's a sad truth that a black sack has become a standard part of my kit when ever I go for a session on the Thames and it's backwaters. There are some very popular swims that I know are going to have between 6 and a dozen beer cans, 2 litre drinks bottles, wrappers, bags and tin cans from luncheon meat and sweetcorn whenever I arrive.
What's even sadder is the fact that I've evolved into going through this automatic practice of clearing it up every time like it's absolutely normal. I'm pretty positive that many others are doing exactly the same thing on their personal favourite stretches of river.
If you look around our town centres, rail/bus stations and roadsides it's no different I'm afraid. We're like a third-world country when it comes to education on such matters.
Steve makes a very valid point regarding the TAC extolling the virtues of the anglers working hard to clear up this ****. All we have to do now is try to put our foot on the throats of those 'anglers' that leave all this **** in the first place. It really gauls me that I'm lumped together with the people that create this mess but, from an outsiders view, why shouldn't I be? In their eyes, we're all just fishermen.

Its so true, where I live most of the fishing is run by riperian owners mostly being the EA. The amount of angling litter is usually meat and corn tins, in summer its usually accompanied by empty lager cans. The EA dont seem to give a hoot about it.

Last winter a number of us contacted Barnsley Council of fly tipping on the Dearne and Don, guess what ... we will look at it but not a priority.

Andy

bendsomecane

I can't understand some anglers who can't be bothered to take home there litter. It doesn't weigh as much when its empty.

Ahhh... Yes, Tony... That most ancient and intriguing of all angling mysteries.
Why is it that containers that weigh a total of about 5 kilos when taken to the bank are left discarded when they weigh next to nothing?
I think that social awareness in this country limits many people's (morons) thinking to the extent that they believe that once something is bought and consumed, the remnants become someone elses problem..... Seemples!

I'm pretty sure this problem has been around a very long time, and has got worse due to the nature of the wrappers/containers that products/food stuffs are contained within.
What we as anglers have got to do is spin it around to a positive, collect it, keep a running total and make sure the powers that be are aware of what you are doing, the best way to do that is phone the relevant councils enviromental services, and inform them volunteers have been collecting it and where it is left.
What we have collected at the TAC is mind blowing, from windsurf boards to soiled nappies, proof positive to the powers that be, that it aint all anglers.
The most obvious difference we could make, is get rid of the excessive packaging on our tackle.
Do we really need 2 bobs worth of rubber wrapped in 3 bobs worth of plastic.

When we went on Thursday there was, a hook and line on the ground, luncheon meat cans and glow sticks hanging in trees, why can't some people just take the rubbish home with them? People like this give us good anglers a bad name.....

On the River Wandle it is not rarely angler's litter that we have to clean up - fly tippers abound! The other week we took most of an old kitchen out of one stretch plus dozens and dozens of tyres.

It never ceases to amaze me just how much rubbish the Wandle Trust manages to clean out of a 200 yard stretch of small river! You can read about the Trust's cleanups HERE

I often take dustbin bags with me when fishing - sometimes I have been know to pick up litter before I tackle up! It is depressing how little some people care about our waterways!

It not anglers that litter - it litter bugs who fish - walk through most town or city centre and you will see fag ends, chewing gum, drinks cans, sweet wrappers - and the people who drop them do so without a care.

And those City Centre Ambossidors we have in Sheffield are a waste of money - they only good they do is giving people directions to the snooker once a year