The roadside litter campaign was launched in Dorset last year aimed at people who throw their rubbish out of car windows. ‘Don’t be a TOS53R’ was designed to send a hard-hitting message to drivers and their passengers that our roads are not a network of litter bins – and that the owner of a vehicle can be fined up to £100 if rubbish is seen being thrown out of a car window.
Litter Free Dorset implemented the campaign in partnership with Keep Britain Tidy, whose research shows that 33% of people don’t know that the vehicle’s owner can now be fined if someone else throws rubbish out of it – including cigarette butts. New rules that came into force in April last year mean that local authorities can fine the owner of a littering vehicle without having to prove who threw the rubbish. Keep Britain Tidy chief executive Allison Ogden-Newton: “The mindless act of tossing plastic bottles and fast-food wrappers out of car windows is doing damage to our environment and our wildlife.”
Billboards, bus shelters and vans across Dorset have displayed the ‘Don’t be a TOS53R’ message within the last year. As well as the McDonalds Drive Thru in Ferndown which have an average of over 6700 cars a week that pass the sign. Daniel Heath, Business Manager at McDonalds: “The war on litter shouldn’t be cleaning up our streets, but more importantly people cleaning up their act and this campaign is displaying the message exactly as it should be told!”
This Summer, Litter Free Dorset will be targeting tourists through a social media campaign. Litter picking costs the UK £1bn to clear litter every year, and when tossed from vehicles can cause accidents and injure our wildlife. Cigarettes are the most littered item in the world and with 75 percent of smokers reporting that they dispose of cigarettes on the ground or out of a car. Our environment needs a change in behaviour. Let’s spread the word this Summer- ‘Don’t Be A Tos5er’.
To report an incident:
dorset-self.achieveservice.com/service/DWP_Report_litter_on_the_highway_or_pavement
