Litter on a train

[whole diary]

[grahame]

I was pointed to this at https://off-the-ground.org/litter-on-a-train/ - from Dr Elaine Massung.   Article looks recent but date not immediately obvious to me.

I have commuted by train from Chippenham over the past several years and, as a result, I have put together my own guide to train etiquette – the general stuff that I’m sure most regular train travellers inwardly grumble about as well ...

[snip]

Yet my obsession with litter has seen me start to take notice of the problem on board trains and at stations. For example, rubbish left behind on trays or seats is common. The result is that the seat is effectively out of action until someone (most likely train staff) removes the litter – people do not want to sit where there’s trash.

However, getting rid of litter on trains can be equally problematic: bins on trains are not fit for their current purpose. Have a sandwich carton, bottle of water, and a coffee cup? That’s one bin full. Nor are there any recycling facilities, despite the train companies themselves selling a wide variety of recyclable beverage containers.

[continues]

[johnneyw]

It's true, unless staff come along to clear the train of litter, there are not that many opportunities to dispose of rubbish on board.
Leaving your trash on a train though? If you can carry the stuff on to it in the first place it shouldn't be too taxing to take the residual litter with you, especially when there are usually station bins nearby. Same really goes for trolley purchases.
Is it that difficult for most people?

[stuving]

However, getting rid of litter on trains can be equally problematic: bins on trains are not fit for their current purpose. Have a sandwich carton, bottle of water, and a coffee cup? That’s one bin full. Nor are there any recycling facilities, despite the train companies themselves selling a wide variety of recyclable beverage containers.

Bring back the buffet! But only as a space for keeping a collection of assorted waste/recycling bins.

[Robin Summerhill]

If I may be allowed a mini rant here…

Whilst there may be a problem with litter on trains, this woman seems to be concentrating on the symptom and not the cause, which is the amount of packaging that is created these days. Some might think needless packaging in many instances.

In the olden days when trains had buffet or restaurant cars, if you wanted tea or coffee it came in a cup. With a saucer and a spoon, and milk and sugar came in bowls and small jugs. And when you’d finished with them somebody came along and cleared up, washed the items in question and dished them out again to the next customer.

If you bought your own food, say you bought a sandwich from the station buffet or a pie from the greasy spoon outside, it came in a paper bag. Not a cardboard box with a bit of single use plastic on the front to let you see what you were buying, or a single use cellophane wrapper.

If you brought your own cold drinks then, unless you made them up at home before you left, they would come in a glass bottle that you got 3d back on when you took it back to the retailer, rather than a single use plastic bottle that cannot always be recycled.

Whilst on a Virgin Pendolino a few weeks ago I was sitting at the table right next to the onboard shop. When I decided to have a cup of tea I got:

•   A plastic cup
•   A plastic cover for the plastic cup
•   A teabag upon which the hot water had been poured
•   Individually wrapped “spoonfuls” of sugar
•   A mini plastic carton of milk
•   A wooden pole to stir the tea with

And the worst thing about it is I’m paying for this lot. Little wonder than that you can buy a box of 240 tea bags in Tesco for much the same price as you pay for a single cup of “railway tea.”

As I said, I was sitting at the table right next to the shop. When the sales assistant attempted to put all that lot into a paper bag, I stopped her and said “I don’t need a bag. I’m carrying it less than 10 feet,” she insisted I have it in a bag “because Health & Safety, innit?”

If we could make some attempt to sort out this stupidity (IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion) of course) we might go some way to sorting out the rubbish on trains issue.

[johnneyw]

And a very reasonable "rant" it is that you make, especially the point you made that "reusable" is generally environmentally preferable to "recyclable". I'll be pleased when the on board catering for all TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company)  is recyclable and delighted if a good deal of it could be made to be reusable.

[CyclingSid]

Some additional points. The provision of litter bins on trains is generally not enough; on IEPs^▸ (Intercity Express Program / Project.) I get the impression that Japanese don't do litter (or take it home with them), on Cross Country there is an inadequate bin opposite the toilet.

More generally, I was walking down the street in Reading and there was litter in the street not more than 10m (say approx. 10JR-M units, yards in this case).

So is a more general problem than trains, which is where this lady is coming from with tidy up Chippenham web site.

[froome]

And a very reasonable "rant" it is that you make, especially the point you made that "reusable" is generally environmentally preferable to "recyclable". I'll be pleased when the on board catering for all TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company)  is recyclable and delighted if a good deal of it could be made to be reusable.

I always take my own reusable mug wherever I travel now, but I've yet to find an onboard caterer who will allow me to use it for their drink.