Volunteers Sweep across Dacorum for Great British Spring Clean
More than 1,000 people took part in the 2024 Great British Spring Clean in Dacorum, with volunteers helping to clear almost 600 bags of litter throughout March and April, supported by Dacorum Borough Council.
Back for its ninth year, the Great British Spring Clean is the nation’s biggest mass-action environmental campaign. This year, the event saw 1,077 volunteers – made up of individual residents and families, schools, scout groups, businesses and local charities – getting involved in Dacorum, with almost half of the litter collected separated as recycling. A large number of fly-tipping incidents around local streets and parks were also investigated and cleared by the Council’s Environmental Enforcement Officers and Clean, Safe and Green (CSG) Team.
More than 30 groups volunteered their time, including but not limited to, Jupiter Primary School, Seventh Day Adventist Church, Woodhall Farm residents, Academia, Swing Gate Infant School and Tidy Tring Team.
Dacorum Borough Council’s CSG team carry out litter picks daily across the borough, but the size of Dacorum means any time volunteers are able to offer towards a clean-up is always greatly appreciated by the CSG teams.
Councillor Robin Bromham, Portfolio Holder for Neighbourhood Operations at Dacorum Borough Council, said: ‘A big thank you to everyone who got involved in the Great British Spring Clean for their efforts and sense of pride in their borough. By taking part in this campaign, you have demonstrated how much we can achieve when we work together, and I hope it will inspire us all to take action to protect the places we live, work and play throughout the year.’
This year, Keep Britain Tidy, which runs the Great British Spring Clean campaign, marked its 70th anniversary and raised awareness of how long litter can stay in our environment for if it’s not collected – some is likely to have been in our environment since the charity was founded 70 years ago.
The Great British Spring Clean may be the most popular time for litter-picking but Dacorum Borough Council supports litter picks all year round by lending litter-picking equipment for community-organised events. The Dacorum Street Champions volunteer group is a fantastic group of volunteers who are committed to litter picking in their local area on a regular basis. Now 1,500 volunteers strong, the team makes a huge difference to the local environment and help make Dacorum a beautiful place to live.
Learn more by visiting Dacorum Borough Council’s website: www.dacorum.gov.uk/litterpicks