Over 40 residents and children joined together in Southmead’s biggest ever litter pick, clearing a massive 170 bags of street litter in just two weeks. Local action group Sustainable Southmead hosted the event which saw a huge 276 work hours put in by volunteers in the ‘Great British September Clean’ (a Keep Britain Tidy campaign).
As the team walked the streets, checking in kerbs and sweeping under Southmead’s many green hedges, they found litter dating as far back as 1997. Volunteer Liz said, “It feels good to spend time doing something so positive, every piece of litter picked is another piece gone!”.
Over the 15 days of the event, the volunteers removed litter from every street in Southmead including Doncaster Road and Elderberry Park. They also reported all the fly tipping they saw, prompting its removal by Bristol Waste.
Sustainable Southmead member Clarie said, “So many people came together to make this happen. SusWoT (Sustainable Westbury on Trym) helped us to organise this event and were hugely supportive, lending us equipment and volunteers every day. We are also grateful to Aldi for looking after our equipment between picks each day, and of course, Bristol Waste, who were really supportive too. Best of all was the support from other ‘Meaders’ who came out to say thank you as they saw what we were doing. One lady even brought us drinks and refreshments on a hot day. And as the days went by, we gathered more volunteers.”
Sustainable Southmead organise monthly action days on the Second Sunday of each month at 2pm, which are advertised on their Facebook page and here on The Mead. You can also sign up to their newsletter here to find out more about their activities.
