Letters: Put a market value on containers to cut the litter problem

There has been a culture change but it has gone in the opposite direction. In my youth streets were largely litter-free, now our urban and rural communities are so blighted that to promote the wonders of our country to tourists is tempered with embarrassment. It can't go on.

The only serious way to end this menace is to give litter a value so that those who drop it bear the cost and those who pick it up derive the benefit. If the law required that all containers were bar-coded then a compulsory refundable deposit of say 50p would be paid per container which would be refunded at automated collection points throughout the country.

The benefits are considerable: virtually no litter; significant recycling; reduced local authority collection costs; more thoughtful packaging, fewer unsightly wheelie bins, no financial cost to the consumer, to name but a few.

In 2010 I had the great pleasure in moving a successful resolution at the SNP National Conference which committed the arty to explore such a system. The time has now come for our Government to make progress.

Graeme McCormick,

Redhouse Cottage,

Arden,

by Loch Lomond.

ONCE again the issue of the litter in our streets and countryside appears on the Letters Pages. Comparisons are frequently made with other countries where, it would appear, national pride plays a large part, perhaps backed with appropriate legislation, in preventing this from being such a problem as exists in so many areas here.

A major factor contributing to the disfigurement of our pedestrian areas is the besplatterment caused by discarded chewing gum - an unsightly mess.

The answer is not to rely on councils in investing in machines to remove the yuck, nor to implement existing, and unenforceable littering fines, but to ban the sale of chewing gum completely.

Something to chew upon?

Malcolm Allan,

2 Tofthill Gardens,

Bishopbriggs.