Messy streets, broken rules: why keeping our streets clean isn’t just about appearances

Some of this (though not all of it) can be attributed to the type of rubbish we now throw away: modern waste - especially plastic - breaks down particularly slowly, making today’s litter more visible and longer-lasting than ever before.

A plastic drinks bottle, for example, can take 450 years to decompose - meaning, once it’s littered, it stays littered (until someone picks it up).

This durability makes plastic waste especially problematic as - along with its extreme environmental and economic impacts - it reinforces the perception that litter is everywhere.

This is significant because psychological research consistently shows that people are much more likely to drop litter in an environment that is already littered. In other words, visible waste encourages further waste, creating a vicious circle of more and more litter.

Worse, research also suggests this can also lead to further - even more serious - social issues.

Messy streets, broken rules

Back in 2008, a team of Dutch psychologists set out to test a simple but powerful idea - that visible signs of neglect, such as litter and graffiti, can encourage people to break rules.

In one of their most revealing experiments, researchers placed a temporary fence and a “No Entry” sign across a commonly used shortcut in an alleyway. They then watched to see how many people obeyed the sign and how many ignored it.

When the alley was clean and graffiti-free, only a third of people (33%) broke the rules and stepped over the fence. However, when the same alleyway was deliberately made messy, covered in rubbish and spray-painted walls, the number of rule-breakers shot up to a staggering 82%, with the vast majority of people choosing to ignore the sign and take the shortcut.

The conclusion here is simple: when a place looks like no one cares, people start acting like they don’t care either. A bit of litter might not seem like a big deal - but it can send a signal that rules don’t matter, and that can spark a chain reaction of antisocial behaviour.

It’s a powerful reminder that keeping our streets clean isn’t just about appearances - it’s also about setting the tone for how we all behave.

How to prevent this where you live

One of the simplest things you can do to try and prevent littering and other undesirable behaviour in your community is to spend a little bit of time picking up rubbish and making sure your area is tidy.

You could even ‘adopt’ a street, park or other space you care about and pledge to keep it clean as often as you can. For example, I recently got chatting to a lady in Pike Hill who told me she regularly tries to keep Belmont Community Green near her home free from litter.

You can also use the Love Clean Streets app to report littering or other signs of neglect directly to Burnley Council.

Crucially, the longer you can keep this up, the more powerfully you will reinforce the social norm that littering is ‘not the done thing here’ and reduce the likelihood of rubbish reappearing.

Psychologically, people find it extremely difficult to drop litter in tidy places, meaning a spotless street is your best defence!