More than 30 million tons of litter are discarded in the UK annually, causing visible pollution in communities, posing threats to wildlife, and incurring an estimated cost of £1 billion for cleanup efforts each year.
Fortunately, Keep Britain Tidy’s initiatives, including the Great British Spring Clean and Great Big School Clean, are set to return from March 13 to 29. During this period, hundreds of thousands of individuals will come together to enhance the cleanliness of our streets.
Initially launched as a one-time event in 2016, the Litter Heroes movement has amassed over 4.5 million bags of trash picked up from various locations like streets, parks, fields, riverbanks, and beaches across Britain.
The Great British Spring Clean is scheduled for March 13-29. To participate, visit keepbritaintidy.org, where you can register as a group, an individual, or a school. Simply provide your name, email, postcode, and indicate the number of bags you intend to collect.
In the previous year, nearly 400,000 volunteers engaged in the annual litter collection, filling approximately 462,000 bags of waste. A survey revealed that 95% of participants believed their contributions significantly improved their local environments.
Among the advocates for this year’s campaign is Emdad Rahman, a civil servant and one of Keep Britain Tidy’s 200 Litter Hero Ambassadors. Emdad leads the Little Litter League, a program promoting environmental consciousness among youth and families through regular clean-up sessions.
Sarah Drakes, the sustainability manager at Nestlé Confectionery UK&I, has been supporting the Great British Spring Clean for six years, organizing litter-picking events for employees and advocating waste reduction within the company.
KFC UK&I, Mars Wrigley, and other companies have long-standing partnerships with Keep Britain Tidy, contributing to community cleanliness efforts and funding projects like the Chewing Gum Task Force to combat gum littering nationwide.
The Great British Spring Clean presents an opportunity for everyone to make a positive impact on their surroundings by committing to collecting litter starting from February 13.
Allison Ogden-Newton OBE, the chief executive of Keep Britain Tidy, expressed gratitude to volunteers like Emdad for their dedication in removing millions of bags of litter from public areas, emphasizing the importance of community involvement in tackling pollution.
Laura Chow, head of charities at People’s Postcode Lottery, commended the volunteers for their environmental protection efforts, highlighting the collective responsibility we share in safeguarding nature.
This year’s campaign is made possible by the support of People’s Postcode Lottery players, media partners, and collaborating companies, including KFC UK&I, Mars Wrigley, McDonald’s, Nestlé, Pepsi Max, and Walkers.
The Great British Spring Clean campaign includes Spring Clean Cymru in Wales (March 13-29) and Spring Clean Scotland in Scotland (March 13-April 24).