Latest news with #litterpicking
BBC News
3 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Boy, 12, goes litter picking 'to make Yaxley a better place'
A 12-year-old boy has begun picking up litter in his village after seeing a "horrendous" amount of rubbish while on a dog walk."It just annoyed me because this is a beautiful village and there was so much rubbish, it looked horrible, disgusting," said a week, he goes out with a black bin bag in the Cambridgeshire village of Yaxley, near Peterborough, and stays out until he has filled the bag. "Some people are happy to see me and some people are annoyed - I had a beer can thrown at me once which was not nice; I still went and picked it up," he said. "But another bought me a portion of chips and a drink because they were pleased - I just want to make Yaxley a better place." Mum Ann Rowell, 46, said the inspiration for the weekly litter pick came on a family dog walk one evening a couple of months ago. "It was really bad in one area and he was adamant he was going home and getting his equipment," she said. "I said, 'no we need to get ready for school the next morning', but he got it in his head that's what he was going to do." Ben has taken part in community litter picks since he was a Beaver aged five and he uses parish council-supplied equipment. His goal with his solo efforts is to reach a day when he does not fill the bin bag. "I want to see more people litter picking, I want to see less people dropping litter, I want to see my village and villages over the country with cleaner environments," he said."And that includes the entire world, I want everywhere to be cleaner because then the environment won't go downhill." Follow Peterborough news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
The Independent
10-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
King asks if RNLI volunteers ‘get a lot' of small boats call outs during visit
The King spoke to a lifeboat crew about a small boat rescue and asked whether they 'get a lot' of those types of call outs, during a visit to an RNLI station in Kent. On Thursday, Charles visited Walmer Beach near Deal Castle and spoke to RNLI volunteers about their work, joined in with some litter picking and greeted members of the public. Among the volunteers were three crew members who were being honoured for a rescue operation 10 miles off the coast on December 14 2022. Reports from that day indicate that four people died and 43 were rescued when a small boat began taking on water. Volunteer Daniel Sinclair told the King the small boats were 'not very seaworthy' and described the operation as 'traumatic'. 'Do you get a lot of those call outs?' Charles asked. 'Not so much here,' replied Mr Sinclair, adding that stations in Ramsgate and Dover are used more often for channel crossings. The King spoke about the issue of small boats when he delivered a speech at a state banquet on Tuesday evening, marking the start of France's President Emmanuel Macron's three-day state visit to the UK. He told the Windsor Castle dinner guests about the deepening co-operation between the UK and France that will protect against 'profound challenges' like terrorism, organised crime and 'irregular migration' across the English Channel. Earlier, Sir Keir Starmer said the UK would tackle illegal migration with 'new tactics' and a 'new level of intent' ahead of crunch talks to hammer out a deal with Mr Macron. The French president said the UK and France 'share the same will' to address the issue at the start of a Franco-British summit at Downing Street. Mr Sinclair told the PA news agency: 'We went to a call out on December 14 2022, for a small boat taking on water with multiple people in the water, it was a very chaotic and stressful callout for us on board our Atlantic 85. 'We saved five people's lives, stopped them from drowning and it was bitterly cold but the adrenaline kept us going.' He has been an RNLI volunteer for 17 years after joining up when he turned 18. The King then went on to pick up rubbish on Walmer Beach, waving his litter picker at the crowd of residents hoping to see him. He told one resident as he shook their hand 'those shingles are very hard work'. Deal and Walmer residents gathered in their hundreds as Charles waved and shook hands with many of them. One man, wearing nothing on his top half, admitted 'I'm a bit underdressed, aren't I?' which the King chuckled at.
BBC News
26-06-2025
- General
- BBC News
'Graveyard' of metal A-frames appears on roadside in Braintree
A man who displayed a "graveyard" of more than two dozen metal A-frames by the side of a road said he wanted to provoke a response from "Chip" Thorogood from Braintree, Essex gathered the metal frames, which are used to hold roadworks signs, while collecting litter near the A120."I was quite surprised how many there were, so I just made a display out of them to bring awareness," Mr Thorogood frames were removed within 24 hours of the BBC contacting Essex Highways, while Braintree District Council advised against litter-picking near very busy roads. Mr Thorogood had displayed the items next to the Great Notley roundabout for several weeks."I've just decided to make a visual effect," he said before their removal, adding it served a double purpose as an art project "to make people think" about the state of the environment. Essex Highways said everyone working for and on behalf of the authority was expected to remove traffic management items when works were complete but it could not take responsibility for signs left by utility companies and developers."We are happy to collect any Essex Highways signs that may have been overlooked or moved from their original locations," a spokesman said. National Highways, which manages the A120, said it made "every effort" to keep the major road network clean and tidy."Work is ongoing with our contractors to ensure any redundant traffic management equipment is removed from our network and we are grateful to the public for contacting us when this has not taken place," a spokesperson told the added some frames were left "ready to use" on common diversion routes as it was more efficient than collecting and returning them each District Council deputy leader Tom Cunningham said he appreciated people's pride in their local area but urged caution."We advise not to litter-pick along major highways that have an extremely high volume of traffic, such as the A120, nor roads that do not have a verge where people can walk safely by the side of the road," he said.
BBC News
10-06-2025
- General
- BBC News
'I'm a one-man-band Peterborough litter picker with no help'
A man who dreamed of clearing up his city's litter has said he has finally had to accept he is a "one-man band" after almost no-one offered to help him Fishpool, 69, set up the Pride in Peterborough Community Association Facebook group when he retired in 2023, and it had more than 900 he said while people pledged to help his efforts to beautify parts of the city, he has seen only one or two volunteers each Fishpool said he had no intention of halting his solo efforts, but added his "vision" of garnering support and creating little groups of willing volunteers had fallen, rather like discarded litter, by the wayside. Mr Fishpool, who sometimes spends up to 10 hours a day picking up rubbish, has admitted that "it is very addictive".He expected others to share his passion for litter-picking and clearing overgrown public he is now resigned to closing the Facebook group, which he said he would do "with a heavy heart".When he formed the group he said he hoped there would be "people in Peterborough who had jobs but hopefully they could spare a couple of hours at the weekend – or active retired people to come out now and again just to give me a hand". He likes to clear "neglected areas" and then "enhance them" by cutting grass and planting flowers."Over 900 people joined the group but I'd only see one or two volunteers over a period of six months, so I was out every day on my own, making up for the lost time other volunteers couldn't give," Mr Fishpool said."I was a one-man band cleaning up Peterborough."Asked why he had spent so much time and money on tidying up and buying suitable equipment, he said: "I just wanted to pay back for the life I'd had in Peterborough."I haven't got millions of pounds but I could give my manpower and it puts a smile back on to people's faces when they see an area looking neat and tidy."He has renamed his group Mark's Volunteer Community Projects in an attempt to make it clear it is now just him."People would see what I'd done and say, 'Well done team', and I'd want to say, 'Hang on, it was just me doing this'."I had this vision where I would have a nice little group of regular volunteers."I had all these visions of projects we could have tackled, but without the volunteers you just can't... so I'm going to scale down. The local authority can take over."Earlier this year, Peterborough City Council told the BBC that it was "fully committed" to cleaning up litter and fly-tipping, and it encouraged residents to help – either by taking part in organised litter-picks or by reporting thanked volunteers such as Mr Fishpool, but urged them to stay safe and not pick litter from the sides of busy roads. Follow Peterborough news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
01-06-2025
- General
- BBC News
More than 60 bags of litter fished from River Soar
Volunteers say they fished out more than 60 bags of litter from a mile-long section of the River Soar in the space of a of the items recovered included a mattress, a safe and a religious clean-up involved 100 people on kayaks, canoes and paddleboards removing the waste as part of a national effort to clear rivers of plastic and rubbish. The litter picks were carried out by people from local groups and businesses along one mile (1.6km) of the river either side of Leicester Outdoor Pursuits Centre in Belgrave. The groups paddled along the river equipped with litter pickers, gloves and waste bags to remove the floating rubbish, as well as objects stuck in the Leicester Outdoor Pursuits Centre teamed up with Paddle UK - previously named British Canoeing - for the 2025 Big Paddle Cleanup from 24 May and through the half-term week as part of a national effort to clear litter from UK rivers. Parents and children had been encouraged to take to the water during the school holidays as part of the clean-up of the volunteers was 10-year old Ada who says it is not difficult to find a bin rather than throw rubbish in the river."We even found whole bags full of rubbish in there. It was easier to pick them out, but it isn't nice because people should just put it in the bin, it's not that hard."Meanwhile, Arya, also aged 10, says she felt sad lifting a statue of The Virgin Mary from the river during her clear up."Someone just discarded it, it wasn't nice to see as it means a lot to people," she said. Damaging to wildlife Hayley Smitham Hopewell, education and development manager at the pursuits centre, says the volunteers have found some unsettling things in the river in their recent clean up."Unfortunately, we found a dog, which meant we had to call the RSPCA, which was very sad. We also find mattresses, safes filled with valuables, gold and even a motorbike."She also says more than 1,000 bags of rubbish have been recovered from the river since she joined the facility, indicating that despite their efforts, the problem still persists."I understand that people want to use the river as a sanctuary by throwing flowers in etc," she added."But some of the things we find are bits of jewellery, photo frames or ornaments, which is really damaging to the wildlife and to the children who come here." Sue Willis, engagement co-ordinator for the Canal and River Trust visited the site during the week to understand the scale of the problem."It's quite surprising how bad it is, what you see on the surface is the wrappers and crisp packets but beneath the surface is lots of plastic bags and even big pieces of iron - things that aren't visible to the eye unless you go out on the boats."
