Families demand action to stop posties littering streets with elastic bands

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 14 Oct 2017, 16:01

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Royal Mail says it rubber bands are biodegradable - although it takes up to a year for them to disappear

Families are demanding action from Royal Mail after blaming posties for littering their streets with elastic bands.

Normacot Residents' Association has raised the matter after members became sick of finding the discarded plastic bands.

Now community leaders want to know whether the same problem is affecting other parts of Stoke-on-Trent.

Royal Mail today stressed its rubber bands are biodegradable - although it takes up to a year for them to disappear.

Now residents are being encouraged to re-use the offending items themselves - or deliver them back to Royal Mail.

Residents' association chairman Barrie Harrington has even found one of the elastic bands on his Normacot doorstep.

He said: “Postal workers leaving elastic bands everywhere has been a problem in Normacot for too long now. It is unacceptable.

“We have raised the matter but do not seem to be getting anywhere.

“The other week I found one on my doorstep and it is an insult that an elastic band is just left like that. It seems like rubber bands are just being discarded on the floor.”

Nicholas Neil, aged 54, of Normacot, said: "No-one is taking responsibility for this problem."

Royal Mail has today stressed it re-uses millions of its elastic bands every year.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: “Royal Mail uses biodegradable rubber bands for the sorting and delivery of mail and as a business we re-use many millions of rubber bands each year.

"The vast majority are reused within delivery offices and mail centres. They are designed to be more biodegradable than normal rubber bands, as they degrade naturally over time, and this helps us to minimise any impact on the environment.

"The natural rubber content in our elastic bands means they will start to biodegrade in an outdoor environment within 12 months.

“We regularly remind our postmen and women of the importance of avoiding litter and the benefits of re-using bands.

"If members of the public find rubber bands, we would always encourage them to either reuse the bands themselves or return them to Royal Mail.”

wannabeek · Post by **wannabeek** » 14 Oct 2017, 16:44

I hate it that so many posties just dump laggy bands that fall. Yes they are shite but why leave it on someone's property or in the street? It's very disrespectful and I assume that anti-littering laws make it illegal too.

I have given up searching for one that pinged off into a hedge but I wonder at the mentality of a person who leaves one in plain view on a doorstep. That's just rude IMO.

ted_e_bear · Post by **ted_e_bear** » 14 Oct 2017, 20:48

“The other week I found one on my doorstep and it is an insult that an elastic band is just left like that. It seems like rubber bands are just being discarded on the floor.”

Well blow me sideways,I don't drop rubbers, I also find it annoying to see them on the street, I put them in my pocket to take back, but for f#x sake haven't you got anything a bit more important to be concerned about ?

GRS · Post by **GRS** » 14 Oct 2017, 21:28

The postmen who just take the bands off the bundle and drop them where they are standing really piss me off. I do rest day cover and on so many walks I go on I pick up dozens of discarded bands. It’s just typical of the laziness and “I don’t give a s**t” culture that runs through society nowadays. God knows what wild or domestic animals have suffered through this attitude. I’ve even worked with guys who stuff them in the same pockets that they keep the van keys so when they pull the keys out the bands tumble out onto the pavement or road and the f***ers just ignore them and get in the van and drive off.

hans solo · Post by **hans solo** » 14 Oct 2017, 23:19

AND JUST LEAVE the empty cans ,crisp bags etc lying about w*****s

clashcityrocker · Post by **clashcityrocker** » 15 Oct 2017, 08:46

A Royal Mail spokesman said: “Royal Mail uses biodegradable rubber bands for the sorting and delivery of mail

How long does it take a rubber band to biodegrade?

deltaforce · Post by **deltaforce** » 15 Oct 2017, 13:57

clashcityrocker wrote:A Royal Mail spokesman said: “Royal Mail uses biodegradable rubber bands for the sorting and delivery of mail

How long does it take a rubber band to biodegrade?

In my office, about 5 minutes.

Pidleypoo · Post by **Pidleypoo** » 15 Oct 2017, 15:30

Jesus Christ! You're scratching around looking in bags and all over the office for them, no one is doing it on purpose ffs.

Mr Rush · Post by **Mr Rush** » 15 Oct 2017, 19:12

GRS wrote:The postmen who just take the bands off the bundle and drop them where they are standing really piss me off.

Better yet, to have a P&L partner pull them off a bundle in front of me and drop them on the street whilst complaining about the lack of elastic bands in the office

GRS · Post by **GRS** » 15 Oct 2017, 20:17

Pidleypoo wrote:Jesus Christ! You're scratching around looking in bags and all over the office for them, no one is doing it on purpose ffs.

Of course they are.

HarryPoorer · Post by **HarryPoorer** » 15 Oct 2017, 20:43

Pidleypoo wrote:Jesus Christ! You're scratching around looking in bags and all over the office for them, no one is doing it on purpose ffs.

Exactly, I scour other duties' areas for dropped laggies as the bosses won't buy any yet waste more money on printing.

Post by **Godric** » 20 Oct 2017, 18:48

it would help if Royal Mail gave posties jackets with decent pockets ... the pockets on the fleece jacket are shocking they can barely keep a pen never mind elastic bands ... they used to fall out my fleece jacket all the time ... the last decent jacket we had issues were the old blue military style stormproof jacket

yellowbelly · Post by **yellowbelly** » 20 Oct 2017, 19:55

I don't believe for a minute that posties drop them on purpose - I believe a lot are dropped because they're not
emptied out of the main compartment or small front pockets of the delivery bags at the end of the day.

Then the next day when bundles of mail or PDA's are taken out of those pockets the bands
that were left in there get pulled out accidentally without the postie noticing.

CorfeMullenresident · Post by **CorfeMullenresident** » 12 Mar 2018, 12:00

This happens regularly in my area too - Corfe Mullen, Wimborne. As soon as the Postie has done his round, there is a trail of rubber bands on the pavements. Not accidental, surely? As others say, not only illegal (littering), but a health risk to small children, pets & wildlife?
Can't Royal Mail provide Posties with a suitable 'carrier' for these - or bundle the letters with something different?
Cheers! :)