At a recent 'Mayors Awards' many more people signed to become Street Buddies. This seems a great initiative, as most people will do what they can to keep their own area clean and tidy.

At the most recent Amersham clean up over a hundred bags of rubbish were collected across the whole area.

We'd like to hear from any local litter clean up activists so please get in touch.

            

The original group, known as ‘Village Clean Team’ is organised by local resident Edward French. It meets on the first Saturday of every month at 9.30am, selects an area of the village, and heads off to collect the litter! The volunteers vary in age from 6 years to 86 years!  As a group it has had good press coverage and was recently featured in the ‘Selby Times’.

Our second group is more dedicated to a specific area: South Milford Memorial Playing Fields, the local park. The park has play equipment for all ages, a basketball/football court and a large turfed area/football field and a great new ‘Trim Trail’. As with any public space, it gets untidy (even while the general maintainance is contracted out) so there are still areas that need TLC!

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As chair of the playing fields committee, last year I advertised ‘Clean up in the Park’ on local notice boards, text messages and social media. Much to our amazement and delight floods of people put their hands up!

For that first litter-pick we provided green bins for garden waste and rubbish bags for all the litter. The results were amazing! We ran a couple more events  before the winter with equal success!

So this Sunday we are going back to the park! Posters are up, we have Tweeted, ‘Facebooked’, Postered and advertised on the Parish Council Website and expect that we get the same enthusiasm as last year!

Our first ‘Clean up’ of 2012 is looking at the perimeters of the park as well as general weeding. We are also looking at lifting debris and litter from the stream that runs along side.

All the people that help are volunteers and very proud of the park! Fingers crossed the rain will stay away, but do you know… even if it doesn’t they will still show up!

UPDATE
In the end, given the weather forecast (which was right!), we had a switch around. A small team of four took to the park on Saturday instead of Sunday. We are going to schedule another Clean Up In The Park late May!

            

I hope I have influenced and helped more people realise how important our World Waters are. From Underground Water courses to Our Oceans, they are all very important. Our Rain forests are the life lifeblood of Our wonderful Planet Earth.

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The Human Race is very, very fortunate to live on such a wonderful diverse and beautiful Planet and share with such wonderful Wildlife.

I have now decide to dedicate the rest of my life to Marine Conservation in all World Waters.

We have yet to see and experience the damage that all the debris from tragedies such as The Hurricane Katrina, The Boscastle Floods, The Japanese Tsunami, The BP Oil Spill, then there are many other Oil Spills, Ships dumping at sea, containers floating about in our Seas and Oceans and many other disasters that happen.

All these Natural and Man/Woman-made tragic happenings are awful and sad. The real tragedy is that all this dangerous debris from such disasters continues to stay in our Seas and Ocean until some of it washes ashore.

All the River cleaning that I do from my Kayak is Solo, with help sometimes to lift objects from the River and onto the bank, so that I can take the objects home to dispose of them in a safe and proper manner.

I do join groups of people on Beach litter clean-up days! And I organise a group of wonderfully dedicated people to clean up litter and fly tipping from a popular fishing area called Pilfrey Bridge in north Lincolnshire (believe it or not the area we clean up is Environment Agency-owned land).

Over the last few years I started to collect Footballs, Tennis Balls, Frisbee's, any thing that Kids play with, I take them home, test the Footballs to hold air, put these different balls etc in the washing machine, clean then up, spray them with an antibacterial spray, when they are dry I send them down to a guy in Hatfield Herts, Derrick Williams who founded KitAid. He and a volunteer group send Footballs and Football Kits to places like Zimbabwe and Tanzania. So, know some of my River Footballs etc are being kicked about and play with by kids in Africa that have very little.

please read the first part of Terry's guest post.

            

I was born and live in North Lincolnshire by The River Trent, the lower reaches, about five miles from where The River Trent meets The River Ouse and The River Humber, a distance of 5.5 Nautical Miles - 4.7 Statute Miles.

I live in a small Village called Amcotts, approximately 250 people, I believe Amcotts dates back to 1086, probably the earliest settlers were Vikings! Maybe that's where I get my love of Rivers from and Kayaking seeing as I was born in the Village.

The nearest Town is Scunthorpe (Sunny Scunny! It gets quite a lot of leg pull).

Some very famous people come from Scunthorpe: Elizabeth Smith, Graham Taylor, Tai Woffinden, Donald Pleasence, Martin Simpson, Dame Joan Plowright, Nina Nannar, Tony Jacklin, Kevin Keegan.

I have been Kayaking for 50 years now. It all started when my parents took my brother and I to the Lake District and the sea-side. My dad bought me an old wooded framed canvas covered kayak.

I started kayaking seriously in my mid teens with a very good friend of mine "Andrew" who sadly isn't with us any more (I learned most of what I know about kayaking from Andrew, we used to go surf kayaking down to places like Perranporth, Bude and Newquay or Reighton Gap! Good days.)

I took to going on Tidal rivers also in my mid teens. I could carry my Kayak to The River Trent, as I lived and still do live within 200 yards! Brilliant.

I mainly Kayak for pleasure and Environmental reasons these days, carrying a hey net to collect any tins cans etc that I think might be a danger to the River... toxic, chemical, oil, fuels, horrible stuff like that.

I have now Kayaked Britain's three longest Rivers! The River Trent, The Thames and The River Severn.

In 2009 I decided that it was time that I Kayaked my local River The River Trent (my friends call it "Terry's River" — I love that!). I had thought about it for several years, and eventually Kayaked The River Trent for three main reasons:

• A personal challenge.
• In memory of my friend Andrew.
• To raise money for The RNLI.

I started down in Stone in Staffordshire, and paddled through all five Counties that The River Trent flows through, right up to The River Humber Estuary, 167 miles in total!
In 2009 I Kayaked The River Thames from Cricklade down in Wiltshire to Gravesend in Kent, and have been under every bridge on The Thames.

In 2011 I Kayaked The River Severn from Welshpool in Powys Mid Wales right out to The M48 Motorway bridge at Beachley.

On all these three River adventures I promoted Children's River and Sea safety, handing leaflets out that I had sent from The RNLI. I also promote Marine Conservation in all waters from underground water courses to Oceans. Water is as important as the air that we breathe!

More from Terry in our next post...

            

"We are a volunteer group run by Garry Pothecary with the help of one or two others. I think it got it started when Gary used to go on walks with his wife and noticed the village was plagued with litter. He decided to do something about it. He advertised in the parish magazine for volunteers and also contacted the CRPE which supplies all our equipment.

"We've got a group of dedicated local people — all shapes and sizes! Our litter pickers ages range from about 12 to over 70, from all walks of life, type and ability.

"On a typical basis we'll collect about 20 full black sacks of litter. But sometimes — such as after christmas — we'll find much more. Whichever way you look at it, we think it is rather a lot considering the population of the village is only just over 2,000. We've even found car parts, which is pretty unusual.

"I think we are a very organised group. But people go about the task in their own ways,  For instance, we have one couple who walk the village regularly who collect litter as they go along – we simply provided the equipment.

"We also have a volunteer who set up and runs the web site and Facebook page. We've also given litter picking equipment to the local post office, shop, and village hall to help them pick up litter.

"We'll have 15 or 20 people go out litter-picking every three months plus there are a number of random picks. It's good fun, and there is plenty of banter and chat at our litter-picks.

"If I was asked for tips or advice on setting up a litter-picking group, I'd say you have to keep up the momentum. Encourage as many people as possible to get involved. Every volunteer will each their their own skills, for instance someone will have web site skills; others might enjoy communication and marketing. Also, to create a group good camaraderie, enjoy a laugh, have a meet-up at the local pub at Christmas.

"Our town isn't too bad for litter because we keep on top of it. There are some particularly bad areas that we ‘pick’ regularly. It's a case of concentrating your fire to make the biggest impact.

"We have encouraged other local villages which now have their own litter-picking groups so it's great to know the message is spreading.

"Who drops the litter in the first place?  Littering is a social problem across the board, but we see a lot of litter from 18–26 year olds, plus car drivers, children and smokers.

Everybody says ‘it’s a good idea’ but then often drop their own litter – better people education."

What are the three main things that would cut down littering in this country?

• Litter cameras
• More biodegradable packaging
• Less packaging from places like Mcdonald's.

Thanks to Ann and all the pickers at Waltham Chase — keep up the good work!

            

Peter's hard-hitting video suggests 'twice-a-year' litter-picks by Highways Agency contractors are not enough (what a surprise!).

Clean Highways tells it like it is. See for yourself:

            

"In 2011 we put in 1,000 working hours to clear up 43 sites across Reading. There is a large amount of litter and recyclable material collected. For example, in 2010 we removed 10 tonnes of materials.

"For our March event last year, just under 500 people were involved, with another 100 in the October event. This included at least 100 corporate volunteers at the March event.

"We're quite a big group and so have a Reading Rescue website and a Facebook page which keep people up to date with events, and allow them to review previous events.

"To boost our publicity we've had a stall at the local Farmer’s Market and a slot on BBC Radio Berkshire. We make a standard poster available centrally so that people can adapt it for their own event details.

"We do see ourselves as part of a wider community, and work with groups from across the region, including neighbouring councils in Early, Wokingham and Newbury, and with the London organisation www.Thames21.org.uk.

"We're often asked 'who drops the litter in the first place.' To be honest, it’s often difficult to tell. Around schools it can be attributed to school children — but not all school children. Fast food wrappers, drinks cans, bottles and plastic bags from supermarkets are frequent offenders, but these are purchased by a wide range of people, so again difficult to identify as a single group. Fly tipping from builders is sometimes a problem.

"A lot of household items find their way into the corners of parking areas and behind hedges, especially if there is a collection/disposal charge for items.

"What would I say to others thinking about doing some litter-picks? Make sure you celebrate your successes, what you do will be very rewarding, and celebrating the work encourages more people to get involved in future events.

"In 2010 Reading Rescue won the Pride of Reading Award for Environmental Projects  which gave us great publicity for the event — recognition for all those involved."

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Reading Rescue is a great example of collaboration between different parties. Fantastic work!

            

"These events are an off-shoot of the Cleaner Kennet Campaign started in 1989 and this is our 23rd year in Reading.

"We are pretty well organised. There is a steering committee with representatives of the key stakeholders in the event attending to identify new areas, groups and funding sources, agree artwork for posters that are made available centrally and exchange ideas and best practices.

"We've got a volunteer pack all about getting involved.

"As chair I represent the voluntary community groups. Reading Borough Council provide time from a member of staff to coordinate the event, and also collect and recycle the collected litter. The third steering group member is Claire Wright from Connect Reading, a local charity who connect corporate volunteers with community projects across the greater Reading area. Thames Water is the main event sponsor, along with several local companies, including the Kennet & Avon Canal Trust, The Environment Agency, Kyocera, Radio 107FM and Novatel. Attendees include community environmental groups, religious groups, a scouts, football teams and corporate volunteers.

"We run two blocks of events. In March we have at least 20 groups out, some multiples of times, allowing around 30 events to take place; the second event is in October and has another 10 groups/events.

"There are some serious hot spots for litter in and around Reading, and a lot of open green spaces in and around the town where people fly tip litter.

"There's always plenty of banter at the picks. We have a good mix of regular volunteers and new faces from a broad spectrum of Reading residents. It makes for a positive atmosphere at the events.

"We get some of our equipment using Green Grants from Reading Borough Council. Some is available to borrow and some of the corporate volunteers fund their own equipment.

"The Kennet & Avon volunteers bring their own equipment and the Environment Agency lend us flat bottom boats to use on the canal."

(Editor's Note: Watch out for an upcoming post on how kayakers patrol our rivers for litter)

In the next instalment we'll hear how Reading Rescue promotes its activities, how it slots into a wider community and the key things that would help cut down littering in this country.

            

Litter-pickers OxClean collected 30 bags of litter in less than two hours over the 2nd and 3rd of March — impressive stuff, considering there were only about 10 in the team.

Car parts and a double bedstead stood out as unusual items amonsgt the typical fast food junk, plus a lot of bottles.

Well done, OxClean!

Do you know of any local community groups mounting their own litter clean up operations? We'd like to hear about it. Please drop a comment below or email us.

            

I've organised a litter pick up day because I was shocked by the amount of litter on my 40-minute walk to work. I live in Stratford upon Avon, a beautiful town and a major tourist attraction. We have the theatres, a lovely river and lots of historical sites. So it is all of our interest to keep our streets clean for visitors and ourselves.

We'll be picking up litter using pick-up sticks, gloves & bags provided by the council. I expect it to take a couple of hours. I have to take the bags home, and they will arrange the contractor to collect the bags of litter from us.

Take responsibility

What annoys me is when people moan about litter, and expect our Council to do it all. Litter is a community problem, a people problem, not solely a Council problem.

We can all talk about imposing penalties for litter dropping and so on. Yes, I think the punishment should be severe, and penalties should be implemented. But in the end, there will always be litter, at some level, because of the amount of people who live on our little island called Great Britain!

Twitter: a great communication tool

I've used Twitter to connect with like-mined people. It is great for sharing information and certainly since I started Tweeting about litter, I have met people with this common interest.

Also for business it has been really great, I have met lots of local business people and have since met many 'face to face'. We regularly meet for a 'Tweet Up', which is a get-together in a local business premises, for drinks and nibbles & networking.

About four months ago I joined the Committee of our local branch of the Federation of Small Business, and I am pleased to say that our Clean Up day has now been added as a local FSB event.  So it is now gaining more publicity.

Business and litter

My intention is to keep networking with other business owners in our town, to encourage them to clean up their own premises and the local area nearby.

As we know, there are plenty of local culprits, normally in the fast food business who need to take more responsibility for their environment!

Since I announced the Clean Up day, I have since learned that a local Councillor is involved with a Clean Up Working Party, which is great news. It looks like there are plenty of people in Stratford Upon Avon keen to do their bit.

Morrison's supermarket has already been contacted, and also the Railway Station has started cleaning up, as their premises are in a terrible state.

There are probably clean ups on a much grander scale than mine, but I will still persist with my little effort!"

Lisa is just one of thousands of people up and down Britain who are doing their bit to clean up towns, cities and the countryside. We'd love to hear from anyone involved in community clean-ups!