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.

 

Stanhope Litter Pick

69 Brookfield Road,Ashford,TN23 4EW

22 May 2015

23:00

The litter pick will take place in an urban setting of South Ashford, meeting is at ten behind Leavland close on the green. .

upcoming Events

No upcoming events

past Events

Litter Pick- Willesborough

Keep Ashford Clean will visit the Recreation Ground between Osborne Road and Hythe Road, Willesborough for the next litter pick. As usual we are planning to give a good clean up to the area so everyon...

Cuckoo Lane Play Park

We are having a litter pick at the newly built Cuckoo Play Park in Ashford. Litter Pickers, high vis jackets and gloves are provided. Everyone is welcome to join.

Victoria Park Litter Pick

Once again we are back at the popular Victoria Park. We are meeting by the water fountain at 10 am, and will focus on the main area of the park, in case of good turn out we can extended the litter pic...

Litter Pick at The Ridge, Kennington

There is going to be a litter pick on Saturday, 25 July 2015. Meeting will be at the car park at 10 am. Litter pickers, jackets and gloves are provided. Everybody is welcome to attend. The Ridge was ...

Oast Play Park

There is going to be a litter pick on Wednesday, 15 July 2015. Meeting is by the entrance of the park at 7.30 pm. High visibility jackets, gloves and litter pickers are provided. Everybody is welcome....

Victoria Park Litter Pick

There will be a community Litter Pick at Victoria Park, the main focus will be on the main Park, however if the attendance is good, this could be extended to the Play park and Watercress Field. Litte...

Singleton Lake

The next community litter pick around Singleton Lake will take place on Wednesday, 24 June 2015 at 7.15 pm, meeting at the car park. We decided to have a twilight litter pick to accommodate those who ...

Singleton Lake litter Pick

Due to popular demand we are back at Singleton Lake. We will focus on the path around the lake but if we have enough helping hands will clear the river bank too. Meeting is at 10 am at the car park on...

Noakes Meadow Litter Pick

The litter pick will take place around the meadow. Main focus will be on general litter on the meadow and clearing out the ditches. Meeting is by the basketball court at 10 am. A small group of dedica...

Community Clear Up Day

I am pleased to say Keep Ashford Clean is registered for the Community Clear Up Day and ready to give Ashford a good spring clean.We will be focusing on Victoria Park, Watercress Field, meeting at 10 ...

Litter Picking-Singleton Lake

The next litter picking event will take place at the popular Singleton Lake, South Ashford. Meeting point will be by the two boulders. If you are driving you can park at the end of Bucksford Lane car ...

Nearby Groups

These groups are near to you in case you want to contact them for advice, to offer them support or, for example, to share equipment with them.

The Parish Pickers St Stephen Parish St Albans
The Parish Pickers started as 3 small bands of willing volunteers in in the St Stephen Parish near St Albans and by combining forces and with better advertising through posters and social media we have grown to a 50 strong group of mostly fantastic \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Lone Rangers\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'. We currently do several litterpicks in throughout the year plus we support as many major events as possible including The Great British Spring Clean / World Rivers Day / Love Parks Week
445
8 years
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Salisbury Cleanup Group
Aim to clear up litter in and around Salisbury .
452
54 years
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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!
20750
54 years
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WALLYS (Walton Against Lazy Littering)
Walton on the Naze, Essex. Including the town, beach and Naze
0
2 years
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CID Clean-up Team
Helping to keep litter in check in Richmond Hill, Leeds. We will support as many local litter picks as possible but also national events such as The Great British Spring Clean and Love Parks Week, or even global ones like World Rivers Day and World Cleanup Day. If you’d like to get involved or find out more please message the co-ordinators with a way we can contact you. The Climate Innovation District (CID) is a modern development of low carbon housing on the banks of the river Aire in Leeds.
24
2 years
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Snettisham Beach Clean
We clean beaches for the protection of wildlife and have successfully lobbied West Norfolk council for a ban on the mass release of balloons and sky lanterns. We clean beaches around the coast of West Norfolk.
100
9 years
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Whitehead Wombles
Whitehead Wombles are a small group of people from the town of Whitehead who got fed up looking at the amount of litter on our streets and hedgerows and decided to do something about it. We only have a few members but we are committed to keeping the level of litter in the town to a minimum and hope that people will see us and think twice about dropping their litter. We are supplied with bags, gloves and pickers by our local council and last Oct we won an award for our coastal care work. Our aim is to educate people in the detrimental effects of littering and to work with as many groups within the town to co ordinate our efforts. We had a community clean up on Sunday 18th Sept 2011as part of the national Beach watch Weekend and received support of local groups and churches so for one day at least we had a litter free town. We lifted over 30 bags and had forty people of all ages turn out to help. This proved so successful that many of those involved wanted to run it on a quarterly basis so we'll see what we can do If anyone wants to set up a group and needs advice then contact us or follow our progress at the Brighter Whitehead site.
2694
54 years
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3rd Heathfield - Ibn Battuta Scout Group
We are a scout group based in Whitton and provide our children Skills for Life Would love to support the community in any key activities like litter picking. Support the borough to make it a little better place to live in.
0
5 years
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North Lanarkshire Dumpers
I am sick of going into the countryside and finding people have dumped there crap, ie Car Tyres, beds, car seats, cookers, and other crap. I would like to be able to stop this happening but I know that will be hard so I am happy to make it difficult for people.
0
3 years
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Harrow Litterbusters
This is a new group that I am setting up. I have in the past 15 years picked up over 5,000 bags of litter in North Harrow and surrounding area. There's more that can be done and I need your help and also help you in your area. Come and join us the Harrow Litterbusters!
5000
12 years
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