What about all the people who buy junk food instore, whether they be motorists, cyclists, pedistrians and passing school kids? No rego there.
Also, just printing the rego on the paper bag won’t solve the problem of the drink cups, lids, straws, wrappers and serviettes being tossed out.
Franchisees like McDonalds stores cannot push back. Remember how they had to install the customised burger kiosks instore for around $170,000 a few years ago and shortly after McDonalds scrapped them all.
I was going to make exactly the same comment. It would only work for drive throughs where regos can be verified. Many fast food outlets also don’t have drive throughs…these are mainly confined to KFC, McDonalds, Hungry Jacks and Red Rooster. The percentage of fast food customers which use drive throughs is likely to be small compared to the total number of all fast food customers for all fast food outlets.
At a counter even if all customers were drivers or came in a vehicle, if asked for a rego, it would be very easy for someone to give any rego instead of their own.
I should have also stated in the above post about cameras, that there is motion activated cameras available which record only when there is a movement. While on busy streets it might mean almost continuous footage, in other areas it would only be when a car passes or movement is present.
Hands up all those that have been trained and are experienced in root cause analysis.
Not that many of us?
Hands up who considers littering a reflection on acceptable community standards.
Easy answer to that one?
One possible source for the root cause, Fast Food outlets who sell to customers who do not adhere to community standards when it comes to waste disposal.
Regardless of the retailers right to ignorance after the sale vs the customers right to be ignored; the best place to change the behaviour is at the point of sale.
Perhaps we are looking at this all wrong.
The big chains are adept at changing consumer behaviour and culture to their advantage. Fine the chains directly for every kilo of litre recovered from the roadside with their logo on the packaging. Something adequate to cover the cost of the cleanup, disposal and scheme management.
Perhaps then they will all find ways to retune their straying customers to a more considerate way of treating the environment and the rest of the community?
In the absence of a Government mandated deposit scheme, the junk food outlets could introduce schemes whereby persons returning packaging to stores could receive discounts or free items, much like when I was young and we would return glass soft drink bottles for the deposit and buy another drink.
Unfortunately in our area litter isn’t limited to fast food outlets. Litter also comprises of packaging from other retailer such as local supermarket, local shops, newsagent, bakery, hotel and even from individuals canvassing for charities/organisations on the footpath. Fast food, while noticeable, isn’t the only source of litter (it is possibly as equally significant as some of the other retailers). Sometimes it is easy to focus one’s attention on one particular sector, without realising that the bigger picture is very much bigger.
As many things other than fast food packaging can become litter, at the end of the day, the litter is responsible of the litter as they are the ones which has consciously released the waste and made it fugitive within the environment. This is possibly why all litter laws place the responsibility solely on the litterer.
As pointed out above, not everyone drives through for their junk food. Instead of car rego, I propose a photo of the customer and their name to be printed in numerous places on each container.
Ban plastic straws and plastic milk shake lids, so they are no longer a problem.
We really, really need to get serious about this plastic environmental disaster.
This may be the easiest way to curb the consumption of fast food (no taxes needed) and help solve increase in modern obesity rates. I personally would refuse to purchase any fast food (inc. from a local vendor) under such conditions.
As is often lamented in the broader community the laws we have often don’t work to our benefit. That they are the current laws does not make them right?
There is nothing to prove the current litter laws are perfect. There is plenty of evidence to suggest they do not work and are ineffective.
As a community if we choose we can change laws, including making the retailers more directly responsible for how their products, packaging and objects of consumer desire are disposed of.
Retailers and their suppliers are one owner and part cause of the problem. I’m not so keen to absolve them from being part of the solution. If it takes legislative change to encourage better corporate citizenship, why not?
The current laws are certainly not working. And our communities have become disconnected to the extent that many find anonymity an easy out when we choose not to be responsible members.
I think all the discussion about printing details on litter is pointless. The people who don’t care are probably never going to care. And as I’ve mentioned before I find people deliberately hide their litter sometimes anyway.
A discount driven system or container deposit scheme is better for 4 reasons:
When we talk about litter issues we need to think beyond just getting someone to put it in a bin. We need to think about where it goes from there!
Agree, and wouldn’t last long as any infringement would be challenged. There is no proof who littered, only who bought the product. One could easily argue that (even if they didn’t) one’s waste was placed in a waste disposal receptacle and either animals caused it to be fugitive…or the waste collection company through it handling (which does occur if anyone sees the concentration of waste on road verges near transfer stations/landfills…or someone else possibly caused the littering (such as a child whom for the food was bought for)
In the long term the only solution to to move away from plastic based single use containers/packaging for the fast food/vending industry.
Simple answer: put a $5 refundable deposit on every container/wrapper.
