Litter pickers plea
The Council is appealing for more volunteers to come forward and arrange litter picks throughout the rest of March.
More than 250 bags of litter were collected over the weekend in the Vale by volunteers working to clean up their communities. Five litter picks were held in the District as part of a county-wide spring clean campaign.
The Council’s Environment Warden Colin Marshall can help by arranging for free litter picking kits to be delivered in time for an event and for all the litter collected to be picked up by our waste contractors the following day.
The litter picks held in the Vale over the weekend included:
- Cumnor, where more than 70 volunteers helped fill 180 bags full of litter
- Steventon, where 21 bags of litter were collected
- West Challow, where 6 bags of litter were collected
- Dean Court, where 25 bags of litter were collected
- Kennington, where 30 bags of litter were collected.
Colin said: “These groups did a really fantastic job to collect so much litter – and their communities look so much cleaner as a result. I would encourage other people in the Vale to follow their example and arrange a community clean-up. It is really amazing the difference that a few people can make in a couple of hours. Please get in touch with me if you are interested and I will do what I can to help.”
Cllr Angela Lawrence, Executive Member for Health and Housing, added: “It is so impressive that people are willing to give up their time at weekends to help clear up after other people. Thank you to all those volunteers who worked so hard at the weekend to help make the District a cleaner place. I’d also like to remind people not to drop litter in the first place – not only does it really spoil the way an area looks but someone has to clear it up. Also if our warden catches you dropping litter you could end up picking up a £75 fine.”
The county-wide campaign is being co-ordinated by Oxfordshire Waste Partnership following on from the success of last September’s Big Tidy Up campaign which saw scores of litter picks held throughout Oxfordshire.
As an extra incentive to encourage people to get involved all groups who stage a litter pick will be entered into a draw to win £250 cash prize offered by OWP.
The Vale’s litter picking equipment kits are free to borrow, and include safety vests and gloves, litter picking sticks and rubbish bags. Anyone can borrow the kits, from a small group of friends or neighbours to clubs, schools or voluntary groups.
For more information or to borrow some kits please contact Colin Marshall on 01235 520202.
