Don’t Be A Tosser Anti Roadside Litter Campaign
March 2015
Background
Northamptonshire’ authorities spend each year around £ 4.5 million on keeping the roads, verges
footpaths, open spaces and town centres of the county clean and free of litter. Not all of this is
spent on litter picking – it includes the costs of road sweepers and emptying of litter bins. However
a significant proportion of it will be spent on picking up the litter carelessly discarded by people as
they use these spaces.
This litter is unsightly, a danger to wildlife, attracts more litter and generally gives a negative
impression of an area. In the case of litter on high speed roads, it is also extremely dangerous and
expensive to collect, putting workers’ lives at risk and costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of
pounds each year. On dual carriageways it is often necessary to close off lanes of traffic to safely
collect litter, causing traffic disruption and adding to the costs of clean ups.
Dropping litter is illegal and if spotted doing so an offender could be given an on-the-spot fixed
penalty litter notice of around £75.
This is why the Northamptonshire Waste Partnership is delivering a marketing and communications
campaign to raise awareness of and tackle litter thrown from cars onto the county’s highway verges,
footpaths and central reservations. The key aim is to raise awareness that this is illegal and to
reduce the amount of litter on the key strategic routes in the county – ultimately safeguarding
workers, saving tax-payers money and also making the roads of Northamptonshire cleaner and more
attractive for residents and visitors alike.
Campaign Objectives

To reduce the amount of litter on highway verges in the county associated costs.

To raise awareness of the litter issue in Northamptonshire – especially those who throw
litter from their vehicles.

To highlight the fact that littering is illegal and that an offender could be issued with a fixed
penalty litter noticed if witnessed.

To engage with retailers who sell items which may quickly end up as litter (fast food
packaging, drinks, smoking related items etc.) and encourage them to promote our
campaign messages to their customers.
Campaign Partners
This campaign is being delivered by the Northamptonshire Waste Partnership (NWP) in conjunction
with its members and with their support. Please note that although part of the NWP, Northampton
Borough Council has decided not to participate in this campaign.
Members of the NWP who are participating in this campaign are:
1

Corby Borough Council

Daventry District Council

East Northants Council

Kettering Borough Council

Northamptonshire County Council

South Northamptonshire Council

Borough Council of Wellingborough.
The following organisations are also supporting the campaign and have made contributions in terms
of officer time, resources, advice and advertising:

Northamptonshire Highways (Kier WSP).

Keep Britain Tidy
The Campaign
We are using a range of integrated marketing and communications activities to reach our target
audience to inform them of their responsibilities with regards to litter. Our target audience is:

Northamptonshire residents

Visitors to Northamptonshire and those travelling through on the county’s strategic routes.

Litterers

Local businesses selling fast food, drinks, smoking-related litter and other items which are
quickly used and then discarded.

Staff who work for the authorities within the NWP.
Our campaign strapline is “Don’t Be a Tosser”, and this appears on all campaign information along
with a photograph of litter being tossed from a car window.
Specific roads across the county are being targeted and a list of these can be found in appendix 1.
Marketing and communications activities:

Press releases and photo/interview opportunities
2

Petrol pump nozzle advertising – 4 weeks (from 2nd March) at 21 petrol stations along
specific routes in Northamptonshire. Please see appendix 2 for list of petrol stations
covered.

Back of bus advertising – 4 weeks (from 9th March) on Stagecoach buses running into and
out of the Corby and Kettering depots.

Posters displayed at fast food outlets and other retailers selling items which could end up as
litter along specific routes in Northamptonshire.

Large refuse collection vehicle signage on 2 vehicles per participating authority throughout
the month of March.

Magnetic vehicle signs for works vehicles of participating authorities and partner
organisations.

Articles in council newsletters, and for wider circulation to parishes in the participating areas

Web pages – NWP website, with links to these pages from partner websites

Social media – use of NWP’s Facebook and Twitter to spread the campaign message.
Artwork
Key Messages

Litter is your responsibility – either use a litter bin or take it home for recycling or disposal in
the wheeled bin.

£4.5 million per year is spent by Northamptonshire authorities cleaning the County’s
highways, verges, central reservations, town centres, footpaths and open spaces.

Dropping litter is illegal under Section 87 of the Environmental Protection Act, 1990.
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
Penalties that come with car litter offences include a £75 Fixed Penalty Notice (£80 in
Corby), up to prosecution in court with fines up to £2,500 + costs and a criminal record.

Litter is unsightly, dangerous and expensive to collect. It poses a danger to wildlife and can
promote a negative image of an area or a neighbourhood.

Retailers have a role to play in encouraging their customers to discard of their unwanted
packaging responsibly.

People think they’re much more anonymous throwing litter out of vehicles but they’re not
invisible and anyone who sees them dropping litter can report them.
The campaign headline ‘Don’t be a Tosser’ is a powerful play on words designed to attract attention
and get people thinking and talking about issue – please see below ‘Why this slogan’ for further
information.
Timescales
The campaign runs for the month of March 2015. It was launched on Monday 2nd March by the
issuing of a press release and a photo/interview opportunities involving Cllr Chris Millar – Chair of
the Northamptonshire Waste Partnership and also of the Working Group who devised this
campaign.
Why this Slogan?
The campaign headline is taken from a past campaign by Keep Britain Tidy, an environmental charity
and the anti-litter campaign body for England. It is designed to attract attention by utilising a light
hearted word that is not a swear word to get people thinking and talking about litter. The headline is
supported by an 'action shot' of tossing litter from a car window which helps emphasise the meaning
of the word in the campaign's context.
It also uses peer pressure as a mechanism, highlighting the attitude that some people have towards
those who litter. Litter issues are high on people’s priorities and indeed several high profile
celebrities have recently spoken out about litter including Jeremy Paxman, Kirstie Allsopp and
Margaret Mountford.
The Northamptonshire Waste Partnership is not the first to pick up this headline or other headlines
of this style. Keep Britain Tidy uses many controversial campaign names including 'Are you a dirty
chucker?' (anti cigarette butt campaign), 'Dirty Pig' (fast food related litter campaign) and indeed
'Don't be a Tosser'. Local Authorities such as Braintree District Council and Suffolk County Council
have been running their version of the 'tosser' campaign for years and variations of the same theme
have reached as far as Australia.
It is safe to say that a less thought provoking campaign such as “please don’t drop your litter” or
‘don’t be a litter bug’ would fail to get any significant press coverage and therefore also fail to reach
our target audience.
Monitoring the Success of the Campaign
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The effectiveness of this campaign will be monitored in several ways:

All media enquiries will be logged to gage the level of interest generated and the level of
media coverage achieved will be monitored and evaluated. Social media activity relating to
the campaign will be monitored and evaluated.

20 litter hot spots around the county have been identified. These are all located either along
of very close by the targeted high speed roads listed in appendix 1. A total of 6 litter surveys
will be carried out at these sites – 2 before the campaign starts, 2 during and 2 after. During
each inspection the amount and type of litter found in a sample area will be logged and an
overall litter grade given. At the end of the campaign monitoring period the results will be
sent to Keep Britain Tidy who will analyse them and provide a summary report of findings.

Social media interactions will be logged.
Contact Details:
For comments or questions about our campaign please e mail nwp@daventrydc.gov.uk
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Appendix 1: List of Northamptonshire Roads covered by the campaign






CBC – A427, A6003, A43
DDC – A45, A5, A43, A14
ENC – A14, A45, A6, A43
KBC - A14, A43, A6003, A6
SNC – A5, A43
BCW – A45, A509, A6
Appendix 2: List of Petrol Stations when the campaign with be advertised on petrol pump nozzles.
Forecourt
Brackley Petrol Filling Station
Corby Petrol Filling Station
Corby Service Station
Corby Service Station
Corby Service Station
Corby Southern Gateway
Daventry Service Station
Fiveways Service Station
Kettering Petrol Filling Station
Address1
Address2
Oxford Road
Brackley
Oakley Road
Snatchill, Corby
Rockingham Road
Corby
Geddington Road
Corby
Oakley Road
Corby
UPPINGHAM ROAD
CORBY
Vicar Lane
Daventry
1A High Street
Byfield
Northfield Avenue
Kettering
CARINA ROAD KETTERING BUSINESS
Kettering Petrol Filling Station
PARK
KETTERING
Kettering Service Station
Rockingham Road
Kettering
Nene Valley North Service
Station
A45 Eastbound, Nene Valley Way
Ecton
Nene Valley South Service
Station
A45 Westbound, Nene Valley Way
Ecton
P.J. Green Service Station
81 High Street
Flore, Northampton
Rothwell Service Station
Kettering Road
Rothwell
Near
Snax 24 Rushden Service Station
A45 Rushden - Eastbound
Wellingborough
Snax 24 Wellingborough Service
Near
Station
A45 - Higham Road Westbound
Wellingborough
Titty - Ho Motor Co
Grove Street
Raunds
WELFORD GARAGE, 6
NORTHAMPTON ROAD
WELFORD
Baynards Green Station
Baynards Green
Bicester
Wellingborough 2 Petrol Filling
VICTORIA PARK TURNELLS MILL
Station
LANE
WELLINGBOROUGH
6
Postcode
NN13 7EF
NN18 8LH
NN17 2AE
NN18 8AA
NN18 8AL
NN18 8TJ
NN11 4GD
NN11 6XQ
NN16 8AN
OC For Refill
Tesco
Morrisons
Jet
Murco
Tesco
Jet
Esso
Gulf Oil
Morrisons
Class
Supermarket
Supermarket
Roadside
Roadside
Supermarket
Roadside
Roadside
Roadside
Supermarket
NN15 6XB
NN14 1UD
Tesco
BP
Supermarket
Roadside
NN3 5LU
Esso
Roadside
NN3 5LU
NN7 4LW
NN14 1SS
Esso
Gulf Oil
Esso
Roadside
Roadside
Roadside
NN10 6BQ
BP
Roadside
NN8 2DR
NN9 6DP
BP
Gulf Oil
Roadside
Roadside
NN6 6HP
OX27 7SG
Murco
ESSO
Roadside
Roadside
NN8 2EF
Tesco
Supermarket