Hundreds of bags of litter picked from across North Herts have been collected thanks to local community groups taking part in this year’s Great British Spring Clean.
Back for its seventh year, the annual clean-up is a Keep Britain Tidy initiative and took place from 25 March to 10 April. A number of groups used council equipment for their litter picks, with the rubbish collected by the council’s waste contractor Urbaser. Not only is litter unsightly, but it can also cause untold damage to wildlife and marine life.
Hitchin Forum was ahead of the game going out on 20 March – they run two litter picks every year at specific times in spring, before vegetation grows and starts to hide litter, and in autumn, when vegetation starts to die-back. About 100 volunteers of all ages spread across 15 different areas throughout the town.
Bill Sellicks, co-chair of Hitchin Forum, said: “It was fabulous to hear that most participants felt there was less litter than last autumn. We still managed to collect around 70 big bags of rubbish and some volunteers even took the items that could be recycled home with them. As usual it was great to see so many children taking part – to quote one young picker, ‘it’s nice to know we are picking up litter to help save wildlife’.”
In the southern rural area of Hitchin, a record 101 volunteers across the villages of Kimpton, Peters Green and Whitwell, collected 235 bags of rubbish from 25 miles of country lanes. This event was supported by Kimpton Parish Council and Kimpton Environmentalists, who between them provided volunteers with litter pickers, hi-viz jackets and rubbish bags.
Near Royston, dedicated volunteers from Therfield held their spring litter pick. David Whitby said: “We really appreciate North Herts Council’s help in providing all the equipment and collecting the bags of rubbish afterwards.”
Sarah Kingsley, Place Service Director, said: “We help coordinate this annual litter picking campaign every year, reinforcing Keep Britain Tidy’s call for people to become litter heroes. Hopefully seeing all this hard work will help stop the minority of people from dropping litter in the first place.”
Keep Britain Tidy added: “We believe that every act to protect the environment, no matter how small, makes a difference, so when hundreds of thousands of #LitterHeroes all join forces and take the same action at the same time, the difference we make is huge! In addition, what is good for our environment is good for our mental and physical health too.”
More information: Community litter picking
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