Blog

I'm using the event diary as a blog because there's nowhere else. Have been running Sheerwater Nitpickers for a bit over a month now. We've collected about 30 bags of litter in that time. What we've noticed is a strong dropoff in littering over this time. We have taken a very intensive approach doing very thorough and frequent litter picks over a smallish area that comprises a 20 acre park and an adjoining 1km stretch of the Basingstoke Canal. Our first sessions yielded a lot of litter. It was easy to fill three or four bags. However we have been thorough and persistent. How thorough? Every cigarette butt, every bit of broken glass, and even tiny bits of coloured plastic and debris. If something looks like litter (even if it's actually a pebble or a leaf) then that is fare game. If it's big enough to see from a standing position then that's fare game. The result is that the area now looks very clean.

This seems to have had an effect on casual littering and we are hard pressed to collect even one bag of litter from the whole area when we go out (maybe twice a week at the moment). Next week is the start of the school holidays. It will be interesting to see if this results in an increase or decrease in the amount of litter we collect. Watch this space. .