Dear Editor,
I commend the placing of ‘litter policemen’ around the city, especially at the horrendous sites that are truly unbelievable in our once beautiful city. This should help to deter the perpetrators. An additional deterrent and a useful tool for prosecution would be the installation of surveillance cameras at the known dumpsites.
I commend too, the intentions of the ‘Pick it up’ campaign. However, I am bothered by the negative aspect of this campaign. You may say “negative?’ Yes, pick it up is positive, but it is coming from a negative standpoint. ‘Pick it up’ does not discourage littering. For something to be picked up, it first has to be thrown down or fall accidently. If it falls accidently, of course it should always be picked up. But trash should never be thrown down. Therefore, the habit that should be strongly encouraged is to put the garbage in a bin.
A positive slogan would be Place it in the bin, followed by a jingle such as:
Place it in the bin
Box, cup, bottle, tin
Place it in the bin
Plastic bag, paper wrapper, fruit skin
The trash must all go in
Just place it, place it in the bin.
Yours faithfully,
Joan Collins
