Date issued: 1 May 2019
Over the last month, Colchester residents, organisations and community groups have come together to clean up litter across the borough in support of Keep Britain Tidy’s national ‘Great British Spring Clean’ campaign.
The national event run by Keep Britain Tidy took place from 22 March - 23 April and saw an excellent turnout of volunteers across Colchester. This year’s campaign not only saw tonnes of litter being removed from the environment on our doorstep, it also aimed to rescue thousands of the plastic bottles and aluminium drinks cans that are simply thrown on the ground but could, very easily, be recycled
Throughout the month-long campaign, Colchester Borough Council’s Zone Wardens were joined by community groups and residents to pick up litter. 29 organised litter picks took place across the borough resulting in 616 70 litre bags of litter and waste being collected. More than half (54%) of the items collected were discarded plastic bottles, aluminium cans and glass bottles which are now being recycled and would have harmed the environment had they been left.
Following the Great British Spring Clean, the Council is keen to raise awareness of its Litter Warriors initiative, where groups of residents can conduct their own clean-up campaign with borrowed rubbish bags and litter-pickers to spruce up their neighbourhoods. Further information about this initiative is available at www.colchester.gov.uk/litterwarriors.
Where there is sufficient evidence anyone caught littering or flytipping will face a Fixed Penalty Notice and fine and could end up with a criminal conviction.
Keep Britain Tidy have reported that 2019 was their biggest campaign ever with over 563,163 people across the UK volunteering their time to take part and 4,308 tonnes of litter collected, 39% of which has been recycled.
To find out more about the Great British Spring Clean visit www.keepbritaintidy.org
Page last reviewed: 1 May 2019