I don’t fully remember how my introduction to litter picking came about, but it must have had something to do with what I saw one day on my Facebook account. I noticed a group called South Leicestershire Litter Wombles, and decided to make a few enquiries about who they were and what they got up to. My questions were answered politely and honestly, and after giving the matter a little more consideration, I decided that I would stop sitting on my sofa or tut-tutting in the streets, and actually get out there and try to do something about it.
So, one Tuesday morning at the beginning of February, I left my house dressed appropriately (heavy duty boots, safety gloves, hi-vis vest and woolly hat), armed with a litter picker and bag hoop, and met my local group – Enderby Litter Wombles. There was always going to be a limit on how much litter we could pick in the time allowed (2 to 3 hours), but what we did manage to do certainly helped to make a difference (or MAD – one of the abbreviations which I soon became accustomed to on Facebook posts, or EBC, for every bag counts).
It’s not only empty cans, bottles, fast food containers and the like which we find on our roads and streets, but we also find some unusual and occasionally dangerous items too. One such example of this occurred quite recently on Beggars Lane, where someone from our group found what transpired to be a pellet firing pistol, but which at first sight easily passed for a handgun. This was subsequently reported to the police, who took possession of it. This find has since been reported on both the Leicester Mercury and BBC News websites.
From September 2019 until the end of that year, Enderby Litter Wombles (numbering just two at the time) filled 75 bags of litter. For all of 2020, the same two ELWs filled a total of 686 bags. From January 2021 onwards, the number of local litter pickers joining the Enderby Litter Wombles has gradually swelled to around a dozen or so, myself included. The figure for 2021 was a staggering 1,601 bags of litter! Up to and including Tuesday 5th April this year, the Enderby Litter Wombles have filled 606 bags, making a grand total of 2,968 bags of litter picked in and around Enderby since September 2019. It should also be noted that South Leicestershire Litter Wombles as a whole collect empty drinks cans towards the Helipads for Hospitals appeal. It has been estimated that it will require approximately 5 million cans to be crushed and melted down to help form the helipad for Leicester Royal Infirmary.
If you are inspired by reading this and want to do your bit to help keep our streets and environment clean and tidy, litter picking equipment can usually be obtained free of charge from your local parish and district councils. All litter to be collected should be reported to Litter.Volunteers@blaby.gov.uk. There is also plenty of useful information and advice on the South Leicestershire Litter Wombles group page over on Facebook.
I don’t fully remember how my introduction to litter picking came about, but it must have had something to do with what I saw one day on my Facebook account. I noticed a group called South Leicestershire Litter Wombles, and decided to make a few enquiries about who they were and what they got up to. My questions were answered politely and honestly, and after giving the matter a little more consideration, I decided that I would stop sitting on my sofa or tut-tutting in the streets, and actually get out there and try to do something about it.
So, one Tuesday morning at the beginning of February, I left my house dressed appropriately (heavy duty boots, safety gloves, hi-vis vest and woolly hat), armed with a litter picker and bag hoop, and met my local group – Enderby Litter Wombles. There was always going to be a limit on how much litter we could pick in the time allowed (2 to 3 hours), but what we did manage to do certainly helped to make a difference (or MAD – one of the abbreviations which I soon became accustomed to on Facebook posts, or EBC, for every bag counts).
It’s not only empty cans, bottles, fast food containers and the like which we find on our roads and streets, but we also find some unusual and occasionally dangerous items too. One such example of this occurred quite recently on Beggars Lane, where someone from our group found what transpired to be a pellet firing pistol, but which at first sight easily passed for a handgun. This was subsequently reported to the police, who took possession of it. This find has since been reported on both the Leicester Mercury and BBC News websites.
From September 2019 until the end of that year, Enderby Litter Wombles (numbering just two at the time) filled 75 bags of litter. For all of 2020, the same two ELWs filled a total of 686 bags. From January 2021 onwards, the number of local litter pickers joining the Enderby Litter Wombles has gradually swelled to around a dozen or so, myself included. The figure for 2021 was a staggering 1,601 bags of litter! Up to and including Tuesday 5th April this year, the Enderby Litter Wombles have filled 606 bags, making a grand total of 2,968 bags of litter picked in and around Enderby since September 2019. It should also be noted that South Leicestershire Litter Wombles as a whole collect empty drinks cans towards the Helipads for Hospitals appeal. It has been estimated that it will require approximately 5 million cans to be crushed and melted down to help form the helipad for Leicester Royal Infirmary.
If you are inspired by reading this and want to do your bit to help keep our streets and environment clean and tidy, litter picking equipment can usually be obtained free of charge from your local parish and district councils. All litter to be collected should be reported to Litter.Volunteers@blaby.gov.uk. There is also plenty of useful information and advice on the South Leicestershire Litter Wombles group page over on Facebook.