Litter Heroes Who go the Extra Mile

Litter Heroes Who Go the Extra Mile

For all the people who have the ‘someone else will clear it up’ attitude about litter, there are many others who really do want to make a difference by making their part of the world look better.

Litter is, and should be, a concern for every single one of us. Here are some people who have gone the extra mile to tidy up their local area.

Fathoms Free

Fathoms Free are a volunteer marine conservation group based in Cornwall. They are using divers to make people aware that 70% of discarded plastic ends up in the sea, and to conduct underwater litter picks. As part of the Great British Spring Clean, the group will be doing an underwater beach clean and a beach litter pick at Port Gaverne in Cornwall. They will also be looking to remove lost fishing gear, which kills a lot of wildlife who get caught up in it. They also plan to release some lobsters into the wild from the local hatchery.

Fathoms free are working on 2 other initiatives. The plastic they retrieve from their litter picks is made into kayaks, which are used in further litter picking missions in harder to reach parts of the coastline. The other initiative is that they are offering a free recycling scheme for old fishing nets so that they don’t end up being discarded in the sea. Around 640,000 tonnes of nets end up in the oceans each year.

Plymouth University Students

Students from the Geography and Environmental societies at Plymouth University are clearing up litter from the city’s streets as part of the Great British Spring Clean. They are inviting fellow students to join them and they hope to make the litter pick a regular event. Great Western Railway are supporting them to tackle the problem of litter in their local area.

McDonald’s

This year marks 7 years since McDonalds teamed up with Keep Britain Tidy to tackle the UK’s litter problem. They sponsored the Love Where You Live campaign in 2010, and the relationship has developed since then. The fast food giant is now a sponsor of the Great British Spring Clean. McDonald’s restaurants across the UK have organised 2300 litter picking events, and not only that, restaurant staff team up regularly with local groups to maintain community gardens and do other jobs that improve the look and feel of the local area.

McDonald’s has a proud tradition of helping to keep the local areas where its restaurants are located clean and tidy. For 35 years, restaurant staff have carried out at least 3 litter picks per day to ensure that all litter is cleared up, not just fast food-related waste.

Young volunteers

The Ahmaddiyya Muslim Youth Organisation is one of the oldest in the UK. They have 130 different groups under their umbrella across the UK, with members ranging from 7 to 40 years old. The organisation does a lot for their local community, including planting trees, raising money for charity, and donating to food banks.

Another thing they organise is a litter pick on New Year’s Day, as they realise how much rubbish can result from the celebrations on New Year’s Eve. They work with councils to go out and pick litter in almost all of the UK’s major cities.

Feeling inspired?

If the stories of these litter heroes have inspired you, why not get involved in the Great British Spring Clean, or organise an event in your local area? You can register events online at www.greatbritishspringclean.org.uk