Rubbish Roundup 11th September

Rubbish Roundup 11^th September

A litter picking event in Kettering has resulted in 40kg of rubbish being removed from the local woods. Local residents, including a local councillor, managed to transform the area, and they removed drinks cans, crisp packets, computer chips, and pieces of old carpet. The volunteers sorted materials by hand to make recycling easier and to reduce the amount of rubbish sent to landfill.

The event was organised by local organisation See it, Bin it, Pick it, which aims to pick up 1 tonne of litter for charity. So far, they have organised 17 litter picking events and have collected 750kg of rubbish. They have raised £500 for a local animal shelter through online and paper donations. To find out more, or to donate to the cause, visit;

http://www.northantstelegraph.co.uk/news/kettering-litter-pick-clears-40kg-of-rubbish-1-8133852

An artist has been working with volunteers in Northamptonshire to turn the town's litter into items fit for sale, as part of a project organised by Fermynwoods Contemporary Art in Corby. Discarded litter like wrappers and bags is turned into handmade paper, postcards, and bookmarks to be sold to raise money for a local woodland conservation group.

According to a recent survey conducted by the organisation Irish Businesses Against Litter, Ireland is the cleanest it has ever been, with 80% of towns and cities being just as tidy, or tidier than the rest of Europe.

Despite this, the organisation said that there were some areas where improvement was still needed. Social housing areas tend not to be as clean, as people who live in these properties move around often, so a community spirit is lacking. People won’t get together to look after areas. Bus stations and train stations were also identified as being problem areas for rubbish.

They also added that fly-tipping was becoming more of a problem than littering. A lot of rubbish was dumped on beaches this summer and tackling this problem is set to become a focus for the future. The fact that charges now apply at most rubbish tips is a factor in the increasing amount of fly tipping.

Brighton & Hove Council’s refuse and recycling department, CityClean, have joined forces with the environmental charity Hubbub, to launch the #StreetsAhead campaign.

The aim of the campaign is to capture people’s imagination and encourage them to dispose of litter responsibly.

A survey conducted by the council last month found that 8 out of 10 residents are fed up with the amount of litter in Brighton & Hove. 97% of people said that litter looks awful and that it ruins local areas.

The campaign is funded by littering fines, which are strongly supported by residents. 88% of survey respondents said that they think that there should be stricter fines for people who drop litter.

The campaign calls on residents and visitors to Brighton and Hove to reduce beach and marine litter by:

• Using the bins provided for litter
• Picking up any litter you see if there’s a bin nearby
• If the bin is full, find another one or take your litter home

Tackling beach litter is a priority for the council because of the huge income the area gets from tourism. 82% of Brighton’s visitors visit the area for the beach.

The council state that they remove up to 5 van loads of rubbish from the beach every day, including drinks cans, bottles, and polystyrene chip containers. The rubbish not only looks unsightly, it blows into the sea, harming wildlife.

The director of Hubbub said that 35% of the fish around our coastlines have plastic in their gut. Because plastic takes so long to break down, it can harm other animals like birds too.