As we know, litter has always been a problem.
Keep Britain Tidy was started as a result of a Women’s Institute campaign in 1955, at least back then most litter was biodegradable, we were yet to enter the age of plastic.
We have been organising regular litter picks in Chester since 2018, back when we started to work on achieving Plastic Free Chester with Surfers Against Sewage.
We were doing these most months in 2019, however, due to Covid these regular plans were unfortunately curtailed for the better parts of six months and we are only just finding ourselves able to slowly restart.
But now we have a new level of litter, with less travel abroad more groups and families are now in the UK and spending times in local parks.
While great to see, we are finding that this hugely increased use of our public parks is going hand in hand with hugely increased amounts of litter being left behind.
Most weekends we find ourselves inundated with news and images of beaches, parks and beauty spots strewn with litter. With everything going on with COVID we now have the extra issue of plastic gloves and face masks being left around.
For groups like us, arranging litter picks is also now more complex in a post COVID world, thankfully we have at last been able to see a way forward.
We had our first litter pick earlier this month, we had locals joining us at Limewood Fields and Water Tower Gardens in Chester.
This year we are going to do things slightly differently.
As we can’t have large groups or gatherings, solo pickers and ‘bubbles’ are allowed, we decided to arrange a set monthly litter pick covering various locations in the hope of working even more closely with the local community in this areas.
Our litter picks are arranged as part of our Plastic Free Pioneer project as part of Plastic Free Chester. We are looking at organising picks the first Sunday of each month, 1pm at these locations.
- Limewood Fields, Newton
- Countess of Chester Park
- Water Tower Gardens, covering Garden Quarter
- Edgars Field/ Chester Meadows starting from Industry Handbridge
- Alexandra Park, Hoole
- Grosvenor Park
If you live in these or other areas in Chester, we are looking for people to join us and members of the community to lead these areas.
We will arrange for the equipment to be dropped with you, risk assessments, collection of equipment and arrange for collection of the litter.
We can add as many extra areas in Chester as we can get people to lead, so please do get in touch.
We will also take part in both National Picks with Keep Britain Tidy on the 13th September, this one will cover the River Dee from Sandy Lane and Chester Meadows.
Email us on helenchesterfoe@hotmail.com or check our Website for more information.
We need to encourage our communities to think differently about litter. It’s not the council’s obligation to pick litter, we shouldn’t need to do this but until we find ways of stopping people littering, those of us that care need to do our part.
