please empty your brain below
Some boroughs do - Hammersmith & Fulham have done just that.

But, frankly, it's the fault of the stupid bastards who leave the papers behind in the first place. Compulsory 5am shifts with a broom for them, I say...

Inspector Sands | Homepage | 18.09.07 - 8:17 a.m. | #

It would be nice if those press barons paid for the bins. Let them plaster the bins with advertising if they want.

Les Abbey | Homepage | 18.09.07 - 8:18 a.m. | #

I always take my free, or paid for newspapers home, and after finishing any crosswords, place them in my weekly collected recycling bin.

John | 18.09.07 - 8:25 a.m. | #

Are the publishers not obliged to provide a litter control service then? Here in Manchester certainly the MEN has a litter control team, and I'm fairly sure the Metro does too.

Kirk | 18.09.07 - 9:05 a.m. | #

Both London free evening papers have agreed with Westminster Council to provide a total of 40 bins in central London, at a handful of "key locations". It's nothing but a tokenistic drop in the ocean, and my commute takes me nowhere near one.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 18.09.07 - 9:24 a.m. | #

Personally I feel sorry for someone who can't be bothered to take a paper they've read home or to work and recycle it.

Simple answer - in order to get a licence to distribute papers outside particular stations (and, years ago, when I was a student and made a few quid by giving out free magazines, they had to - not sure of the position now), publishers have to agree to provide and empty recycling bins in the same positions.

Consumer electronics firms are being made to take responsibility for the end-of-life recycling of their products, so it's time newspaper publishers were made to do similarly.

And, does the current man with gloves, grabby thing and plastic sack collecting regime separate the rubbish collected from carriages at the end of the line and recycle it appropriately or does the lot go to landfill?

Blue Witch | Homepage | 18.09.07 - 9:40 a.m. | #

You're right: the bomb excuse doesn't hold anymore, as they come in shoe and rucksack configurations these days.

I think it is arrogance that prevents commuters taking their apple cores and lager cans with them. It is one step removed from tossing rubbish in the street.

Of course, when we are all reading free news on our reusable electronic newspapers...

flashgordonnz | 18.09.07 - 9:42 a.m. | #

I was appalled the other day when I saw a mature lady pick up an envelope from my reasonably clean street which she clearly thought she had dropped. She looked at it, realised that it wasn't hers and then chucked it back on the floor. Grr. I detest litter bugs.

embo | 18.09.07 - 11:06 a.m. | #

I love it when people leave behind papers for me to read. Thanks, and I'm not being sarcastic. Why carry around a paper all day just to find somewhere to recycle it.

No, what's needed is PAPER RACKS in the carriages and on platforms and in bus stops where you can put the folded paper when you've finished with it. And where the next person can pick it up. Simple sweet solution.

I've been telling assorted authorities about this for ten years, but no one's listened.

Andrew Denny | Homepage | 18.09.07 - 11:17 a.m. | #

I refuse to touch these freebies anymore. Apart from the litter issue:
1. I'm fed up with the aggressive distribution, pushing them into people's faces until the last second. At Holborn tube, two of them have teamed up and stand so that everyone is funnelled through the space between them, wihch they then narrow further by having their arms out, slowing down an already congested area.
2. The content is so poor and gossamer-thin, it's a waste of my time to read it. I'll get my news from a 'proper' paper, or the 'net, and then read a book or listen to music on the tube.

Steven | 18.09.07 - 11:27 a.m. | #

I travel mostly by bus, where the problem isn't quite as bad as on the tube, but like dg I often leave a paper behind (not on the floor) after reading it, not because I'm an evil littering person, but for another passenger to read. As far as I can see, that's what a lot of people do. If I haven't finished reading it (that is if the journey is very short indeed), I take it home, and then it does get recycled.

Alyx | 18.09.07 - 12:01 p.m. | #

I just started my new commute to London and have quickly got to the point that the next one of them who shoves a paper in my face will get a kick in the shins. Some times I get oe just to wave at all the others in an attempt to get them to leave me alone.

Ruth | 18.09.07 - 1:13 p.m. | #

The content of these papers is terrible, makes the Daily Mail look moderate, in fact some of it is by the Daily Mail.

There are so many issues not to take one, green, litter, your brain deserves better.

Leaving it behind for someone else to read is just a lazy excuse, where else does such charity exist on the tube or on the streets of London? Nowhere.

Karl | Homepage | 18.09.07 - 1:19 p.m. | #

Distribution of free literature can be stopped under one of the new environmental pieces of legislation (can’t remember which one). Basically, the local council needs to publish a notice listing the places where it will be banned and then enforcing (similar to a parking ticket) when the ban is in place. This is the threat that WCC used to get the bins paid for.

And the cost of the bins was never the issue. The cost of emptying and paying for the waste was (as this is an ongoing cost which is getting higher as EU targets are not being met).

robert | 18.09.07 - 1:28 p.m. | #

Totally with you on this Diamond. Thanks for saying it for us all!

london ducky | 18.09.07 - 1:35 p.m. | #

To my memory there has never been this problem with 'paid-for' papers, or the other freebies such as Midweek and 9to5, so I can only assume it is sheer quantity that makes our trains so infested. I personally take my copy home and recycle it there, but have been known to place it back in the distribution bins on my way out of the station. If everyone did this, surely the distributors could then pick up this lot ready for recycling?

As an aside - I hardly ever see copies of Insurance Age or City AM littered around, and I've never understood why.

Brendan | 18.09.07 - 2:23 p.m. | #

Great minds think alike - I'm always ranting about this. I think it needs some sort of bin, and/or those plastic bag holders they have in Paris, at the top and bottom of every escalator and about ten paces apart along every platform. Then no-one would have any excuses.

Autolycus | Homepage | 18.09.07 - 2:49 p.m. | #

I wrote on my webpages 6 years ago too that some form of paper rack would be cool! I know it's already been said above, but i just wanted to re-iterate it

Geoffecth | Homepage | 18.09.07 - 3:46 p.m. | #

and you could carry advertising on the paper racks too to help pay for them. just another thought.

Geoffecth | Homepage | 18.09.07 - 3:47 p.m. | #

Months' ago LU said that litters bins were to be replaced at certain stations depending on perceived security threat level but has anyone seen evidence of this? (And I don't mean the clear poloythene bags tied to seats etc at some locations). (BTW no one has left bombs in litter bins in the UK since the mid-1980s).

Bowroaduk | 18.09.07 - 4:48 p.m. | #

A little later than that, Bowroad - I think the bins finally went after a bomb at Victoria station in the early/mid-90s.

Inspector Sands | Homepage | 18.09.07 - 6:37 p.m. | #

First of the narrow boat nerds checking in since your plug on www.grannybuttons.com ... What a bloody fantastic blog. Regular read for this London worker from now on.

Sarah | Homepage | 18.09.07 - 6:39 p.m. | #

If it wasn't News International and Associated Press behind these joint plagues of crappola you can bet your bottom dollar they would have got a good slagging in the press by now. this stuff is a menace - you can't make a simple tube journey without 30 pages of twaddle you already were across when you read it online at your desk - nobody needs this stuff - lets ban it.

garax | 18.09.07 - 6:47 p.m. | #

I'm with Andrew Denny and Geoffecth - paper racks would be a big improvement.

Alternatively, North Acton station has bins that are basically large transparent plastic bags, so the bomb excuse really doesn't wash - why can't they use those elsewhere?

Simon Jester | Homepage | 18.09.07 - 6:53 p.m. | #

"Leaving it behind for someone else to read is just a lazy excuse, where else does such charity exist on the tube or on the streets of London? Nowhere."

On the contrary, Karl, Londoners know how to queue and still tend to hold doors open for each other. And have you ever tried to get your car out of a minor side road? Drivers fall over each other to let you out into the main street.
So I put my hand up as someone who left the metro behind, but took everything else with me. Except for a pair of near-new prescription sun glasses on the Piccy, circa 1999...

flashgordonnz | 18.09.07 - 9:57 p.m. | #

Yes, there should be more bins.
Yes, the content is rubbish.
Yes, the distributors are rather aggressive.
Yes, people could take their rubbish home or to work and dispose of accordingly.
Yes, I am addicted to reading this Blog.

But I was so glad an irresponsible litter bug left me their paper tonight so I could hide behind it to avoid the drunken attention of a twat of a middle aged business man type on the tube.

Everything seems to have a purpose!

Amused | 19.09.07 - 1:48 a.m. | #

I've stopped taking a copy of the freesheets now. Purely for the environmental perspective - i read the paper, it passes 10 minutes, then i junk it. Why bother? It's not the greatest read and the whole thing feels a bit wasteful.

So instead, I'll read one if it's left on the train and take out a good book from the library for all other occasions.

Tim | Homepage | 19.09.07 - 8:30 a.m. | #

I stopped picking up other people's papers when, within the space of 10 minutes, I saw one man blow his nose on a Metro, then another spit on his (possibly a London Lite). Both neatly folded the paper and left it on the seat beside them.

Charlie | 19.09.07 - 6:45 p.m. | #











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