Central Bedfordshire Council news and press releases

Council supports local communities to clean-up as part of country’s biggest environmental campaign

Thursday, 4 April 2019

We are encouraging local town and parish councils to organise community litter picks as part of the Great British Spring Clean 2019, a national campaign to tidy up our country. This is the third time

Organisers, Keep Britain Tidy, expect that up to half a million people will be taking action to clean up streets, parks and beaches across the country. It has also been appealing to schools across the nation to get involved in litter picking, as part of the Great Big School Clean.

Across Central Bedfordshire, groups of residents, town and parish councils and local organisations have already turned out in force. So far, 20 events have taken place in:

• Sandy and Beeston
• Flitton and Greenfield
• Haynes
• Henlow
• Langford
• Meppershall
• Northill
• Potton
• Shillington
• Westoning
• Dunstable
• Leighton Linslade
• Tilsworth

We are supporting the events, supplying bags and litter picking equipment and co-ordinating the collection of bags of waste from the participating towns and villages.

This year’s campaign will not only see tonnes of litter being removed from the environment on our doorstep, it also aims to rescue thousands of the plastic bottles and aluminium drinks cans that are simply thrown on the ground but could, very easily, be recycled.

Using the ‘three bags full’ approach, volunteers are being asked to separate the litter they pick into three bags: one for plastic bottles; one for aluminium cans and a third for the rest of the rubbish.

Tracey Harris, Assistant Director of Environmental Services at Central Bedfordshire Council, said: “We’ve been supporting this annual campaign for a number of years, with great success. This year there is a particular emphasis on collecting and safely disposing of single-use plastic, recycling as much as possible. Plastic is an issue that is increasingly in the public eye, following TV programmes such as the Blue Planet that have highlighted the impact that plastic can have on the environment.

“I would like to thank all those across Central Bedfordshire who are giving their time to get involved and supported this national project. This is an excellent example of volunteer effort and community action. Volunteers are willingly helping to improve their local environment for others, and it is this kind of spirit which makes Central Bedfordshire a great place to live and work.”

If you’d like to get involved in The Great British Spring Clean, why not join in at one of the eight more confirmed events still to take place in:

• Aspley Guise
• Barton-le-Clay
• Cranfield
• Kensworth
• Barton-le-Clay
• Clifton
• Clophill
• Stondon