Important:   Litter can be contaminated, so we have put together some information to help you handle it safely. Please click on this link to have a read through our Health and Safety Guidance before you go out litter-picking.

 

Litter pick

27 Riverside Gardens,Peterborough,PE3 6GE

03 Feb 2019

00:00

Litter pick at 10am, all equipment provided. Please wear sturdy shoes. We will have two groups. One will start from the river bank near the town bridge (town side), by the steps at the back of Asda. The other group will start from the bridge by the Boathouse pub. We will finish at 12.00. 12 people and 1 dog collected 25 bags of litter, 2 tents, an iPhone, 2 mobile phones, a very nice cooking pot, a bike saddle and more. Amazing what you find when the undergrowth dies down..

upcoming Events

No upcoming events

past Events

RiverCare litter pick

Litter pick

RiverCare litter pick

Past litter pick

Litter collected Jan to Sept 2021

Mainly abandoned tent sites cleared by Kevin and Harry

Thorpe Gate litter pick

Litter pick at 10am with 2 groups, one starting from the River Nene at the steps behind Asda, the other from the bridge by the Boathouse. To be confirmed depending on how flooded the river bank is

Litter collected during Covid 2020

Regular litter picks by me

Thorpe Gate litter pick

Litter pick starting at the steps behind Asda 10 people, 16 bags, part of a sofa and a usable bicycle cleared. Also found needles in a few locations - needle use seems to be spreading....

Thorpe Gate litter pick

One of our regular litter picks. If you have not picked litter with us before, please contact Harry Machin at hnmachin@gmail.com This was delayed until 20th October due to ongoing bad weather. Finally...

Virgin Media litter pick

Picking the Key Theatre park with a group from Virgin Media Nice enthusiastic group who had heard about our litter picks through HSBC. We collected about 12 bags from around the Key Theatre park

Thorpe Gate litter pick

Routine maintenance of Thorpe Gate area Successful use of paddle board on the river. Area is remarkably clear of litter given that our last litter pick here was 4 months ago

HSBC litter pick

Private event for a team from HSBC's Mortgage and Protection department. Very focused group of 9 people cleared average 2 bags per person fromthe park around the Key Theatre. This area is regularly l...

HSBC litter pick

Private event for a team of HSBC branch managers 17 people collected 15 bags from around the Key Theatre park

Thorpe Gate litter pick

This event is cancelled as the area has recently been litter picked

Litter pick

Litter pick at 10am, all equipment provided. Please wear sturdy shoes. We will have two groups. One will start from the river bank near the town bridge (town side), by the steps at the back of Asda. T...

Litter pick

Back to our regular Sunday morning litter picks. Please wear sturdy footwear, equipment is provided. We'll start at 10am with two groups - one from the Asda steps and one from the Boathouse, so please...

Anglian Water litter pick

Meeting at 1pm at the Boathouse pub in Thorpe Meadows, to do a litter pick around the river Nene and the Boardwalks nature reserve, finishing about 3pm. Following last month's successful litter pick w...

Thorpe Gate litter pick

Another of our regular litter picks. Please wear sturdy footwear, equipment is provided. We'll start at 10am with two groups - one from the Asda steps and one from the Boathouse, so please pick whiche...

Litter pick

Meeting at 10am to clear litter from our part of the river bank, finishing about 12. One group will start from the steps behind Asda on the river bank near the centre of Peterborough, and the other w...

Litter pick

Litter pick at 10am on Sunday 13th May, starting from two locations - the steps behind Asda on the river bank and the Boathouse pub. Equipment is provided - gloves, bags, litter pickers - but please w...

Litter pick

Litter pick at 10am on Sunday 8th April, starting from two locations - the steps behind Asda on the river bank, and the Boathouse Many thanks to the 14 people and one dog who braved the elements and c...

Thorpe Gate litter pick

We will meet at 10am at the steps behind Asda on the river bank, just by the town bridge and walk up towards the Boathouse from Asda towards the Boathouse, picking litter as we go, then join up with a...

Litter pick

Litter pick to coincide with Keep Britain Tidy's Great British Clean Up. Meeting as usual at 10 am at the steps behind Asda on the river Nene at Peterborough town centre. Equipment (gloves, bags etc) ...

Litter pick

Our first litter pick of the new year will be at 10am Sunday 14th January. If rain is forecast, please check this page to be sure it's still on. Starting from the steps on the river bank behind Asda, ...

Litter pick

We met at 10am last Sunday, with one team starting from the steps on the river bank behind Asda and a second team starting at the jetty by the Boathouse Many thanks to everyone who joined us for a rea...

Thorpe Gate litter pick

Litter pick with two groups - one starting from the steps on the river bank behind Asda and one from the bridge by the Boathouse. Start at 10, finish at 12

Litter pick

Litter pick at 10am, starting from two locations - the steps behind Asda and the Boathouse - and meeting for a drink at the Boathouse at 12 o'clock Many thanks to the 14 people who picked litter with ...

Nearby Groups

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Coventry Canal
I am an individual who walks part of the Coventry canal to and from work everyday. I have only been walking along the canal since October 2017 despite being a Coventrian my entire life! It is the city's best kept secret and so peaceful and calm away from crowds and cars. But it makes me angry and sad to see such a beautiful habitat ruined with litter so I started picking litter! I usually pick on my way to/from work in the week but I plan to do more at the weekends and travel further to notoriously messy parts of the canal. If anyone would care to join me to make a difference and tidy up for the animals and all of us to enjoy, please get in touch :) Thank you, Jennysha P.S. There is now a new Canal & River Trust Towpath Taskforce which runs on Thursday mornings - please see CRT website for more info. Give as much or as little time as you can :) Please report any flytipping via: 1) website: fixmystreet.com 2) email: enquiries.westmidlands@canalrivertrust.org.uk
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Durham's coastline is unique. Nowhere else in Britain has such a wonderful display of magnesian limestone coastal grasslands supporting a vast array of wildflowers and insects. Most of the coast is now designated as a National Nature Reserve with several Sites of Special Scientific Interest. The England Coast Path runs through the area and is becoming evermore popular with visitors. The beaches are improving after the impact of coal mining and coastal towns such as Seaham have seen a dramatic increase in tourism. The beaches still suffer from litter and are regularly cleaned by groups of keen volunteers. If you would like to join in please see the upcoming event section for more details. We can support groups who want to carry out their own event by supplying equipment (bags, litterpickers, gloves etc) and organising the safe collection and disposal of the rubbish bags after the event. Please pass this information on to anyone you think may be interested.
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The Rudloe Mob
We are not really a group! We are a loose alliance! We started as dog walkers and photographers back in the 70s. I would be walking with our hound and stop to take a picture only to find that foreground rubbish had to be removed. This led to always taking bags for rubbish whenever I went out. For larger items (fly-tips etc) I would move them to a suitable roadside location and call the council who were (and are) very obliging. My “comrades” would do the same. This has been going on ever since (our last dog departed some years ago but the walking and photography continue).

My current (well actually for many years) “bete noire” is bagged dog crap. Twas quite funny, some years ago we had a serial crap flinger - it was everywhere: undergrowth, behind walls, brambles, trees etc. So, one weekend we decided to have a blitz on the stuff. We found about 250 bags in the undergrowth along Leafy Lane, over 100 in one location behind a dry stone wall and so on - a total of around 700 bags altogether. I was walking down my road with a bin bag of bagged dog crap over each shoulder when a neighbour stopped me and asked what I had in the bags! Since that time he and his wife have been inveterate litter pickers. The bagged dog crap problem continues. I have picked up about 30 in various locations over the past couple of weeks (this statement will be approximately true whenever you are reading this!). I used to think that this was just one halfwit on the loose, but it appears that this extraordinary behaviour is common practice. I believe (and I have written to Wilts CC about this) that the socially-acceptable practice of bagging dog crap, binning it and dumping it into landfill is an aberration. We have programmes on TV where ologists of various kinds look at ancient middens to find out how people lived. What will future ologists think of our society?

“Look - they used to wrap up their dog crap and bury it - how weird!”

Talking of weird, an odd incident occurred during my 23 Jan 2012 pick-up. I had a good bin-bag full of rubbish which I was attempting to stuff into the waste bin at Northleaze Mobile Home Park when one of a posse of locals shouted over “Oi - what do you think you’re doing?”. A small exchange ensued during which I explained that this was at least a weekly occurrence and I was tidying-up THEIR environment. But they were having none of it - “You can’t do that”, one said. I should say that this lady did offer to put the rubbish in her own bin but by this time the bin-bag was ripped and taking it out again would have seen the rubbish spilled on the ground. Anyway, their objection seemed to be one of possession - it was their bin! This would be fair enough if the bin was ever used but every time I deposit rubbish in that bin, it is empty (as it was on this occasion). It seems that they want theoretical of the bin without ever using it! Anyway my bin-bag was stuffed into the bin; the bin was emptied by the council the next morning and I stuffed a further bag of rubbish into it later that day. It is odd that no account is taken of rubbish lying in the street but clearance of that same rubbish invokes local disapproval!

Another anecdote - for many years, on Sunday mornings when out walking the dog, I would find an empty bottle of South African white wine (always South African) and an empty (70cl) bottle of vodka tightly knotted into a Tescos plastic bag in the lay-by in White Ennox Lane. What a wild time they must have had and what an interesting drive home.

The bizarre things you find when out collecting rubbish! Today, 25 Nov 2012, it was the “Bath & Wells Diocesan News”, No 264, December 1980 (see pic)! This was by the bus stop at the top of Box Hill. I can imagine the Bishop of Bath & Wells waiting for the bus in his vestments with his mitre and crosier (or is that Catholic bishops?) and unfortunately dropping his News on boarding the bus. One of the News items was the 1980 General Synod at which a major issue would be the ordination of women! Now, thirty-two years on, the Synod has been voting on women bishops. What a slow-moving organisation the C of E is!

By the way, the 20,000 or so bags picked up is an estimate, but probably a conservative one. My weekly pick-up is about 8 bags - 8x52x32(years) is about 13,000. I am, no doubt, doing a great disservice to the rest of the Mob in estimating their input as only 7,000 bags - watch out for the update.

The following table started in 2012, which I will try to update regularly, gives an idea of the scale of the ‘problem’.

1 Jan 2012: B3109, Skynet Drive, field edge 4+bags+mattress - called Wilts CC
2 Jan 2012: Leafy Lane, woods and playing fields, 5 bags
3 Jan 2012: Boxfields Road, Box Hill Common 3 bags+ fly tip - called Wilts CC
4 Jan 2012: Quarry Hill, 3 bags + bagged dog crap (BDC)
5 Jan 2012: B3109, A4 to Hare & Hounds 5 bags+ BDC (7 bags)
6 Jan 2012: Leafy Lane & A4 towards Corsham, 5 bags
7 Jan 2012: B3109, Skynet Drive, Park Lane, 4 bags+ BDC
8 Jan 2012: A4 towards Box, 2 bags
9 Jan 2012: B3109 & A4 towards Corsham, 4 bags
12 Jan 2012: Boxfields Road 1 bag+ small fly tip - called Wilts CC
16 Jan 2012: B3109 & A4 towards Corsham, 4 bags
17 Jan 2012: B3109, Skynet Drive, The Carriage Drive, Pound Mead, 7 bags
23 Jan 2012: B3109 & A4 towards Corsham, 3 bags + BDC
24 Jan 2012: B3109 & A4 towards Corsham, 2 bags
28 Jan 2012: Leafy Lane & B3109 from small Fiveways towards Corsham, 1 bag
7 Feb 2012: B3109 and A4 towards Corsham, 1 bag
8 Feb 2012: Leafy Lane and woodland, 2 bags
12 Feb 2012: A4 towards Box, 4 bags
13 Feb 2012: Rudloe Firs and A4 towards Corsham 10 bags (and still stuff remaining)
13 Feb 2012: (later) B3109, 2 bags
21 Feb 2012: B3109, 1 bag
23 Feb 2012: B3109, Leafy Lane, Leafy Lane Playing Fields, 14 bags

Okay, I guess you get the picture so with one month being very much like another I will discontinue the diary. This is a week-on-week, year-on-year occupation. The last pick-up listed above is instructive though - let me elaborate .. Leafy Lane Playing Fields is a 20 acre site at the south-eastern edge of the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). Its users include football clubs, cricket clubs etc but the principal user is AFC Corsham who do an outstanding job in providing opportunities for young people to play football. AFC Corsham runs 15 teams for youngsters between the ages of around 5 to 15/16. You can imagine therefore the number of youngsters provided for and the scores of parents who ferry their charges back and forth from home to ground and back. All fine BUT it appears that not one of the committee, managers and coaches, parents or others gives a hoot about the enormous piles of litter which are left to accumulate week after week. Rather than an AONB, Leafy Lane Playing Fields resembles a rubbish tip. The Rudloe Mob has an onslaught on the accumulation every couple of months or so. Of the 14 bags collected on 23rd February 2012, 10 came from the playing fields and this was just the tip of the iceberg (see photographs of some of what still remains). The state of the playing fields is, I believe, representative of the state of Britain. A 20-acre site frequented by a community of users who deposit rubbish then cheerfully wander through that same rubbish without giving it a second thought. With regard to litter, whether it is at community or national level, in general “we” couldn’t care less.

In the eighties “that cow” (as described by our local MP at the time, the 6th Earl of Kilmorey or Sir Richard Needham) appointed Richard Branson as the uncrowned king of litter - see this 2005 Guardian article on the subject https://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2005/sep/24/comment - but his campaign along with all others, like the long-established Keep Britain Tidy, failed or is failing. It is not good enough to have high-profile personalities, photo-shoots and high-salaried executives with meaningless job descriptions - take a look at the job description for the £40k plus Head of Communications and Marketing at Keep Britain Tidy:

OUTCOMES TO BE DELIVERED
*Implementation and delivery of the five year communications strategy and annual action plan
*Enhanced reputation of Keep Britain Tidy and its sub-brands
*Senior management feel supported through provision of strategic advice and guidance
*New income streams developed, for example, from behaviour change campaigns
*Stakeholders strategically managed and influenced
*Resources managed effectively within budget to meet to customer demand
*Visible leadership to the relevant communications teams as well as across the wider organisation
*Enhanced profile of the organisation with the relevant audiences
*Public membership scheme developed and successfully implemented, when agreed

Talk about Nero fiddling while Rome burns! We are drowning in a sea of rubbish! You can see the outcome of almost 60 years of Keep Britain Tidy in the small community area covered by this Litteraction webpage. YOU ACTUALLY HAVE TO GET OUT THERE AND PICK UP RUBBISH -REGULARLY!
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