A RECENT trip to New Zealand has highlighted just how clean and beautiful the country is. One of the notable absences is the lack of litter – the culture of dropping litter  – while walking, driving or visiting scenic beauty spots just does not exist. On returning to the UK it highlighted just how much litter there is, even in relatively rural parts of Devon. I personally find the rubbish-strewn hedgerows particularly unattractive and unfortunately the entrance to Crediton, graced by Tesco, highlights just how much litter around the supermarket originates from it. As most of the litter is plastic, it will never decay. Plastic bags (the scourge of our society) festoon the hedges. What a disgrace! A litter pick along half-a-mile of a quiet country road near Crediton produced 80 pieces of litter – the majority from fast food outlets and supermarkets – crisps, sweet wrappers, sandwich and drink containers. It was evident that most of this litter originated from people in cars as does much of the rubbish along the roadside. A change in mindset is certainly needed to reduce our litter problem. Should shops and fast food outlets be fined on the polluter pays principle? New Zealand shows how attractive a place can be without litter. Perhaps the greatest irony is that there are strong objections to the visual impact of wind turbines, yet we appear to accept the rubbish-strewn landscape around us.  I think the visual impact of rubbish in our country is far more of a menace and more action is needed to reduce it. Anne Tucker Crediton