A regular visitor to Salford says the littering and fly-tipping in parts of the city are getting visibly worse.
Peretz Tabor, 48, visits Salford several times a week to take his daughter to gymnastics or for walks through local parks.
He says in recent years the amount of waste he’s come across has increased.
He said: “It just makes you feel absolutely horrendous. It makes it even more intimidating, it just creates a sense in certain areas that people don’t care for the environment.
“In certain areas, the more dirty they are, the easier it is for people to just go and fly-tip there.”
He recently picked up litter himself on a visit to Mandley Park, on Leicester Road, Broughton, but when he returned hours later, he found that the park was worse than before, with broken glass scattered across the playground.
Mr Tabor now litter picks three to four times a week.
Mr Tabor, from Prestwich, frequently sees residential waste left in public spaces, fly-tipped waste, and empty nitrous oxide canisters.
A total of 7,610 incidents of fly-tipping were recorded across Salford in the past year, a 15% increase. Salford City Council says that costs local taxpayers £400,000 to clear. It works closely with voluntary litter-pircking groups to keep on top of the problem but local authorities across the country are struggling against a rising tide of dumping.
Mr Tabor believes this issue affects how the city is viewed by outsiders.
“Absolutely 100%, it affects property value, tourism and how outsiders view Salford,” he says.
“I think Salford gets a bad rep just generally, I think it’s got a history - but it’s just creating a sense that Salford is a bit run down.”
Litter issues within Salford have been a concern for years, with members of the community turning to social media to express their thoughts and organise litter-picking efforts.
Mr Tabor feels that too much responsibility has been placed on the people, even though Salford City Council offers a volunteer programme called ‘Litter Heroes’ and encourages the public to report issues.
“The Council is putting a lot on the people that are volunteering,” he said. “There need to be more bins, and bins being cleaned and collected more, I think there needs to be more from the council for people who do fly-tip or certain types of littering. You hear about people in city centres who have been done for dropping a coffee down the drain, the main issue is big fly- tippers or people repeatedly doing it, I think there needs to be more sanctions.”
He also called for more education around waste disposal and for more residents take part in local clean-ups.
“There’s a lot of people demonstrating and going out a lot around Manchester for all different types of causes, and I think if people spent just a fraction of time litter picking around their streets, I think everyone would feel so much more positive.”
Residents can report fly-tipping, littering and other environmental issues through Salford City Council website, which also provides details of local volunteer clean-up schemes.
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