Litter Pickers Needed for Big Bag Challenge

Dacorum Borough Council is supporting residents who pledge to pick one bag of litter for the Great British Spring Clean campaign. The council is proud to be backing the Keep Britain Tidy charity campaign and is encouraging people to pledge to do their bit to clear up the litter that blights the borough.

This year’s mass campaign, running between March and April, calls on families, neighbours, friends and colleagues to join forces and pledge to collect a bag of litter from nearby streets and beauty spots in order to protect our vibrant communities and precious wildlife habitats.

Last year, over 1000 local volunteers collected 314 bags of rubbish and over 215 bags of recycling from around Dacorum. In a national survey of people who took part in 2021, 86% said volunteering helped improve their mood, more than half agreed it helped them meet new people and make friends, and an overwhelming 91% agreed they felt more pride in their local area after participating.

As well as polluting our streets and parks, litter harms wildlife, domestic pets and cattle, and costs UK tax payers over £1 billion a year to clean up. In the last five months alone, volunteer litter pickers and Street Champions have collected a staggering 353 bags of rubbish from across their local areas in Dacorum.

The Great British Spring Clean, now in its seventh year, brings together individuals, community organisations, businesses and councils to make a difference to the environment on our doorstep, and the charity is keen to stress litter picking can be accessible to everybody with the right resources.

The council will be supporting local litter heroes by loaning out litter picking equipment including litter picking sticks, recycling and rubbish bags as well as providing advice.

Residents can find out more about how to take part in the Great British Spring Clean and help represent Dacorum on the national stage by visiting www.dacorum.gov.uk/gbspringclean.

If residents would like to help keep their streets clean, safe and green all year round, they can sign up to be a Street Champion.by visiting  www.dacorum.gov.uk/street-champions.