Do you remember those first Covid lockdowns? Tough times for many but we were able to get out once a day for some exercise, so many more people made use of the paths & trails in our town and surrounding countryside.
A result of this was either more litter, or more people noticing litter. Whichever way, many voiced frustration on various forums, and so Barbara Leckenby and Chris Dodge decided to set up a group to try and tackle the problem.
Our first litter pick was on the 6th June 2021 as part of the Keep Britain Tidy’s annual Great British Spring Clean. Starting with just a handful of volunteers, we have run litter picks most months since then, often now having 30 or more volunteers taking part – see our pictorial blog.
Having so many volunteers requires a lot of litter picking equipment, so we are very grateful for the support of our sponsors:
- Uttlesford District Council for providing the refuse sacks and picking the full ones up following our litter picks
- Essex Association of Local Councils (EALC) for our first grant of £179 (2021)
- Saffron Walden Round Table for a donation of £250 (2021)
- Saffron Walden Town Council for a grant of £200 (2022)
- Waitrose (John Lewis Ltd) for a donation of £250 (2022)
How our Litter Picks Work
We usually run our litter picks at 10am on the first Sunday of every month. They are about one hour as that gives enough time to cover enough ground and then meet back for our team photo (participation optional).
Litter pickers, rubbish bags and our rather stylish hi-viz vests are provided, but we suggest you bring your own protective gloves (such as gardening gloves) and wear old clothes and robust shoes. It can be muddy or wet underfoot, and we’re often poking about in hedges and scrub.
We take health & safety seriously, so if you are new to the group, please make yourself known to Chris or Barbara are we can go through our safety briefing, which can be read on-line here. The group also has liability insurance, covering our organised litter picks.