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.

 

Sunny Hill Park Clean-up

london,NW4 4XS

18 Jul 2015

23:00

Meet 10am at Sunny Hill Café, postcode NW4 4XA, for a walking litter pick in Sunny Hill Park. Finishing 12pm. All equipment will be provided, no experience necessary, just wear old clothes and sensible shoes, and come with enthusiasm! Refreshments will be provided. 12 lovely volunteers, 18 bags, the usual bits and bobs..

upcoming Events

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past Events

Welsh Harp clean-up

WELSH HARP CLEAN-UP Saturday 11th June 10am-12:00pm Meet 10am at the Phoenix canoe club, off Cool Oak Lane, approximate postcode NW9 7ND. No experience necessary, all equipment will be provided, just ...

Welsh Harp clean-up

Sunday 8th May 10am-12:30pm Meet 10am at the Neasden recreation ground car park, off Aboyne road, approximate postcode NW10 0EY. No experience necessary, all equipment will be provided, just wear old ...

Discover the Eastern Marsh

Discover the Welsh Harp’s Eastern Marsh Sunday 10th April 10am-12pm Meet 10am at the corner of Woolmeade Avenue and Cool Oak Lane, approximate postcode NW9 7BH, for a walk and gentle litter pi...

Welsh Harp clean-up

Saturday 19th March 10am-12pm Meet 10am at the Neasden recreation ground car park, off Aboyne road, approximate postcode NW10 OEY. No experience necessary, all equipment will be provided, just wear ol...

Welsh Harp clean-up

Sunday 28th February 10:00am-13:00pm Meet 10am at the Phoenix Canoe Club, off Cool Oak Lane, approximate postcode NW9 7ND. No experience necessary, all equipment will be provided, just wear old clothe...

Welsh Harp clean-up

Saturday January 23rd 10:00am-12:00pm Meet 10am at the Phoenix Canoe Club, off Cool Oak Lane, approximate postcode NW9 7ND. No experience necessary, all equipment will be provided, just wear old cloth...

Welsh Harp clean-up

Saturday January 9th 10:00am-12:00pm Meet 10am at the West Hendon Playing fields car park, off Goldsmith Avenue, approximate postcode NW9 7EU. No experience necessary, all equipment will be provided, ...

Welsh Harp clean-up

Saturday November 14th 10:00am-12:00pm Meet 10am at the West Hendon Playing fields car park, off Goldsmith Avenue, approximate postcode NW9 7EU. No experience necessary, all equipment will be provided...

Welsh Harp clean-up

WELSH HARP CLEAN-UP Saturday October 17th 10:00am-12:00pm Meet 10am at the Neasden recreation ground car park, next to the Prajapati spa centre, off Aboyne road, approximate postcode NW10 0EY, for a w...

Welsh Harp clean-up

WELSH HARP CLEAN-UP Saturday September 19th 10:00am-12:00pm 12:00pm-14:00pm after party! Meet 10am at the Phoenix Canoe club, off Cool Oak lane, approximate postcode NW9 7ND, for a walking litter pick...

Hendon Park clean-up

Meet 10am by the Hendon Park Cafe, approximate postcode NW4 2TL, for a litter pick around the park.Finishing 12pm. No experience necessary, all equipment will be provided. Just wear old clothes, sturd...

Welsh Harp clean-up

Meet 10am at the Prajapati Spa centre car park, off Aboyne Road, approximate postcode NW10 0EY, for a walking litter pick around Neasden Recreation Ground. Finish 12pm. No experience necessary, all eq...

Hendon Grove clean-up

A community clean-up for a much neglected thoroughfare with a surrounding woodland and a rivulet. Meeting point 10am at the Sherrock Gardens entrance approximate postcode NW4 4JJ. Finishing at 12pm. A...

Brent Reservoir Clean-up

Meeting at the Birchen Grove car park at 10am, for a walking litter pick along the north west side of the reservoir. We'll be finishing at 12. All equipment will be provided. Just wear old clothes and...

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.

Huntsham
Huntsham is a tiny village in mid Devon. For the last four years, Huntsham Society members and our local community (farmers and all) have joined forces twice a year to clean up all the many the lanes for a distance of 2-3 miles from the village; once in April before the verges are hidden in new growth, and once in October when the vegetation has died down and the litter can be seen. This April we had a turnout of over 100 helpers, including many children. We have recently combined our efforts with Mid Devon County Councils campaign to help keep Devon clean and green, also twice a year. It would be fantastic if neighbouring parishes could take up the challenge of keeping the lanes clear of litter.
0
17 years
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The beach guardians
We will focus on street litter and beach litter to protect all of nature
0
3 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
55 years
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Friends Of Crosby Beach
We carry out and organise monthly beach clean-ups on Crosby and Waterloo beaches. We also try to raise awareness of plastic pollution and what it does to wildlife and our environment.
1077
8 years
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The Wombles of Willenhall
We have about 350 members, and about 50 active .This year we have collected 3200 bags of rubbish
0
9 years
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Harleston Pickers
The aim is to remove litter from approach roads\' verges to Harleston
0
11 years
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Broadstairs Town Team Ltd
We have come together to do positive things, where we can see ways we can help, to make our town even better than we already know it is. We love Broadstairs. We know that most of the people who live here do too and that visitors often fall in love with it from the moment they arrive. It's a great place. But nowhere is perfect and let's face it, if it was it would be boring. We're always thinking of new ideas of things we can do that will make a positive difference and address some of the issues and challenges our town faces. Our aim therefore : Make Broadstairs an even nicer place to work in, live in or visit.
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12 years
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Keep Warwick Beautiful
Starting with the waterways around the local schools, we aim to bring Warwick back to its former glory, allowing the wildlife to thrive once again and removing the rubbish near neighborhoods.
0
3 years
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Beare Green Community Association
Community Association, combined with Youth Group and District Cllr
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7 years
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Seal Sands Beach Cleans
Group of dedicated volunteers who regularly meet to clean North Gare beach.
0
8 years
View

Start a LitterAction group

Here at CleanupUK, we want to help you to take LitterAction! Wherever you live in the UK, forming your own community litter-picking group will help to keep your community safer, more friendly and free of litter. It’s lots of fun too. Why not muck in and join us?

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