Join the Bucks Great British Spring Clean

Communities around Buckinghamshire are being invited to pop on their gloves and hi-vis vests, grab a refuse sack and litter picker and get involved with clearing up their local area as part of Keep Britain Tidy’s Great British Spring Clean.

Now in its ninth year, the national, annual initiative is the country’s biggest mass action environmental campaign. It encourages residents, community groups, businesses and councils to collect and safely dispose of litter from local streets, parks and open spaces. This year, the initiative runs between Friday 15 and Sunday 31 March and the theme is ‘the environment is for everyone’ so we should all do what we can to keep it looking good. Keep Britain Tidy is also celebrating its 70^th anniversary this year and is asking people to set themselves a special #PlatinumPledge, challenging themselves or their community to pick up 70 items of litter, spend 70 minutes litter picking or even fill 70 bags of litter.

Last year in Buckinghamshire, hundreds of people got involved in local community litter picks during the two-week period. More than 80 community clean up events took place across the county. A total of 1,200 bags of waste were collected in the south area with similar figures in the north of the county.

Groups wanting to arrange a local litter pick this year can request free items including litter pickers, bag hoops, gloves and hi-vis vests to help carry out their event in safety. Free litter sacks are also provided.

One local area where people will be out litter picking this year is in High Wycombe on Wednesday 27 March as part of the Community Action Day organised by the council’s Community Safety Team. In addition to having staff from different council teams and partners including the police and fire service available for residents to speak to on any community safety matter they wish, volunteers will be taking part in a community litter pick around the town centre. The event will run from 11am to 4pm at Sands Village Hall, Lane End Road, High Wycombe, HP12 4JF.

Thomas Broom, Buckinghamshire Council’s Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Environment said: “Joining in with the Great British Spring Clean is a fantastic way for communities to take direct action to help improve their local area. It can be a fun way to get together and enhance a communal space for the benefit of everyone. Just filling one sack can make a big difference so I would urge as many people as possible to get involved.”

To find out more about how you can get involved with the Great British Spring Clean visit the council website: Great British Spring Clean | Buckinghamshire Recycles (recycleforbuckinghamshire.co.uk)