Volunteers including members of the Wombling Free Eden group made the best of the weather on Saturday for a big litter pick around Penrith. The event was organised as part of the annual Keep Britain Tidy Spring Clean that has been taking place this year between the 1st March to 6th April.
The community litter pick with Wombling Free Eden, was organised by Tony Pears with the support of Kier Transportation through their volunteering scheme.
The event was part of Keep Britain Tidy Great British Spring Clean with the volunteers meeting at 9am at Penrith Auction Mart where Tony welcomed the volunteers, before they set off to make a difference in the local community collecting litter across a big area which included Mile lane, A66 past Penrith, Kemplay Bank roundabout, Bridge Lane, Carleton Avenue, Ullswater Road, Brunswick Rd, Castlegate, Castle park.
The group gathered 128 bags of rubbish from around the area covered that were all collected and removed among the items collected was a TV car lot s of bottles with yellow liquid inside and traffic comes alongside drinks cans takeaway packaging and other items discarded by people along the pavements and verges around the town.
Speaking after the event Tony said “Big thank you to all that turned up, the ever faithful Wombling Free Eden and Kier Transportation for the equipment and van, plus staff volunteers. McDonald's too, for staff volunteers and the much needed food and drink afterwards”. McDonald’s provided free refreshments for volunteers after the event.
Research for Keep Britain Tidy reveals that more than 8.5 million adults – 16% of the adult population - in the UK participate in litter-picking at least once every six months.
Last year across the UK more than 430,000 volunteers, including school children, faith groups, businesses and community groups collected a staggering 449,406 bags of rubbish across the country, from the north of Scotland to the Cornish coast.
Keep Britain Tidy Chief Executive Allison Ogden-Newton OBE said: “It is amazing to see that so many of us are now taking action in our day-to-day lives to improve our environment.
“Litter is a blight that affects every corner of the country and can make people feel unsafe in an area. It pollutes our watercourses and, ultimately, our oceans, choking marine life with plastic.
“The Great British Spring Clean is a moment when all those individuals who are now making litter-picking a part of their lives come together to show that small, individual actions, when taken collectively, can make a huge difference”.
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