Red rubber band litter costing Royal Mail £2,840 a day

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... a-day.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Royal Mail has spent £5 million in the past five years on the red rubber bands that often litter Britain's pavements.

Red rubber band litter costing Royal Mail £2,840 a day

They litter pavements across Britain, dropped by postmen out on their rounds.

Now, figures show delivery workers get through two million red rubber bands every day – at a rising cost to the Royal Mail and the environment.

The organisation has bought four billion of the distinctive bands – used to bundle up letters – over the past five years at a cost of almost £5 million.

It means that, if laid end to end, the three inch bands brought by Royal Mail during the period would stretch eight times around the world.

The charity Keep Britain Tidy has criticised the postal managers and called on them to do more to cut down on their use of the items, which are not only an eyesore but a threat to wild animals, which can choke on them.

Research by the organisation discovered that the items were found on eight per cent of streets surveyed – more than the number affected by dog mess.

In 2009, members of the public collected more than 13,000 of the bands from hedgerows, front gardens and pavements as part of a Keep Britain Tidy campaign which forwarded the pile to the Royal Mail.

Fiona Ashurst, from the charity, said: “Red rubber bands may not be as visually offensive as cigarette butts, however they are most definitely litter.

“By pocketing the rubber bands to use again, not only will this help to keep our streets clean, it will save the Royal Mail money as well.”

Red bands designed to be more biodegradable than their brown equivalent.

The new figures show that spending on them is 40 per cent up on five years ago at £2,840 a day – despite a drop in the number of letters posted.

Royal Mail shelled out £1.04 million on 760 million bands in 2009/10 compared to £749,583 on 753 million on 2005/6.

Despite the numbers purchased – which last year equated to one for every 28 letters delivered – Royal Mail insists the “vast majority” are reused in its sorting offices or recycled.

Royal Mail, which faces privatisation, made £404 million profit last year. The amount of post it handles has dropped by 19 per cent since 2006, down from 84 million items a day to 68 million.

A spokesman said: “Royal Mail uses biodegradable rubber bands because they are necessary when it comes to the effective sorting and delivery of the mail.

"We regularly remind postmen and women about the importance of avoiding litter. The vast majority of rubber bands are reused by our people in delivery offices and mail centres across the UK.”

[TrueBlueTerrier]

[pyphon]

much more fun to put your used ones in your bag and then the next day fill up the frame next to you and hear them snap when they try to bundle up :)

[Post Off]

...Biodegradable(?). Maybe that's why we can never re-use the things. They're total crap. Even the new ones are sh*te.

We could go back to using string. Obviously, these would be even more hazardous if they too were to be littered all over the place as are the red bands, but at least there wouldn't be a need to literary recycle these things as string is re-usable anyway.

[Spedley]

Does this article assume that every new band bought is to replace a dropped band?
Or is it just another one of those stupid totals of very large numbers.
60,000 postmen x 3 bands dropped per day means about 1.5 pence per band.

So change that to

"Red rubber band litter costing each postie 4.5p per day"

[fishtank]

Royal Mail, which faces privatisation, made £404 million profit last year. The amount of post it handles has dropped by 19 per cent since 2006, down from 84 million items a day to 68 million.

Let's get a few facts straight because these figures have been used to hammer us by everyone from Moya Greene to our own union and they are completely....bogus.

84 million was the average daily traffic figure for the entire year of 2005...including Christmas.

68 million was the average daily traffic for the six months between April and September 2010.

Even an idiot can spot the flaw.

I'm not saying that volumes haven't fallen but to compare these figures is complete nonsense.

[capricorn]

Why can't we have bigger thicker, non-biodegradable bands

They would last a lot longer that the red ( use twice if your lucky ) bands that are supposedly easier to see when they fall on the floor.
In fact they may as well be camouflaged. As for picking them up with a bag across your back - forget it, I can get that low eventually, but need a walking pole to stand upright again

When the hips & spine have fused and my hands drag along the ground and I'm not wearing gloves I could pick them up, if i can see them without changing into my reading specs

How about doggie snack flavoured bands, stops the dog attacks, gets rid of the bands then kills the dod, it;s a WIN WIN WIN



SMILIES: How about a punch Moya in the face smilie???

[gideon 60]

any lastics mister? how many times i heard this on different walks. the little buggers have bankrupted us.

[malcolm3011]

Perhaps if RM spent money on buying rubber bands that last more than a few days then they wouldn't have a problem

[Straight4ward]

Royal Mail has spent £5 million in the past five years on the red rubber bands

A mere million a year?!!! A drop in the ocean, my friend. The world market for condoms is estimated at $3.3 billion per year. Now just how many times would that lot stretch around the world?

In fact, might this be a practical solution. We band the mail up with condoms. Easy to spot should you drop them. The desperate could re-use them. Kids could use them as novelty balloons, the ribbed ones could be used underfoot to prevent slipping and fruit flavoured ones would be eaten by animals or used as chewing gum by the chronically short-sighted.
Problem solved, methinks!

[skull]

much more fun to put your used ones in your bag and then the next day fill up the frame next to you and hear them snap when they try to bundle up :)

Don't forget the swearing after the snap . I've learned Know , any elastic band on my frame that looks anywhere near used goes straight in the bin .

[bunkerland]

Surely the elastic band problem is droping by 10% every year in line with the corresponding drop in mail!

[countyboy]

Who are these people who go round collecting bands and forward them to Royal Mail..in the thousands / !! Probably the same tools who opt out of Door to Doors because its to much of an interruption to daytime TV to sling them in the bin....!!

[BELIAL]

Torygraph always got an eye for the important stuff; Barclays et al cost the tax payer £3 squillion and they flip out on rubber bands f***ing scandalous waste

[Judgee]

Did the increase in cost for bands coincide with the change from the regular brown ones that were alot stronger and lasted longer, to these s**t red ones that snap when you look at them? I want to know how many of these bands these nolifers picked up off the street were actually broken, most of them I bet!