The Great British Spring Clean, the nation’s biggest mass-action environmental campaign, is back between 17 March - 2 April 2023.
Watford Borough Council and its recycling and waste partner Veolia have pledged their support for this year’s Great British Spring Clean - the country’s biggest mass-action environmental campaign run by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy.
From 17 March to 2 April, individuals, community organisations, businesses and councils will come together to make a positive difference to the environment on our own doorstep and the charity is keen to stress litter picking can be accessible to everybody with the right resources.
Veolia and Watford Borough Council is calling on residents to show pride in their area by pledging on Keep Britain Tidy’s website to pick a bag’s worth of litter, or more!
Last year’s campaign attracted over 100 participants in Watford to clean up 6 different areas of the borough. In total, 53 bags of litter were collected for disposal and 18 bags of plastic bottles and drinks cans were diverted for recycling.
As well as being good for the environment, after the 2022 campaign, 85% of people who took part said they felt more pride for their local area. A post campaign survey of participants also shows 71% agreed that they feel part of their local community more than they did before and 69% agreed that they are more aware of the litter issues in their local area (Keep Britain Tidy 2022).
Veolia will provide litter-picking kits, bags, and recycling advice and will work alongside residents to collect the recycling (plastic bottles and cans only) and waste across the week.
Elected Mayor of Watford, Peter Taylor, said: “We are very proud to support this fantastic initiative once again. The Great British Spring Clean is the perfect opportunity for residents to get active outdoors and help clear up any rubbish that you see. Don’t forget that you can borrow the litter-pickers free of charge throughout the year, not just in March, so we can continue to keep Watford clean. I’d like to thank everyone in our town who is coming together to support this great initiative.”
Darren Harding, Senior Contract Manager for Veolia Watford, said: “The Great British Spring Clean brings the community together and we feel proud to work alongside residents to keep Watford clean. It takes mass participation to build environmental awareness and ongoing effort to create lasting change. We hope that the event will encourage residents to reduce, reuse and recycle, ensuring the right thing ends up in the right bin.”
Litter-picking kits and bags will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis. They are free of charge and are available throughout the year.
If you would like to get involved and organise your own clean-up or would like to join an existing group, please get in touch by emailing enquiries.watford@veolia.co.uk and don’t forget to share your photos with the council on social media at @watfordcouncil and use the hashtag #WatfordSpringClean and #GBSpringClean.
