Guardian readers making Britain beautiful again

In our village, we have seen both the potential and the limitations of people-led efforts to tackle litter (Letters, 13 July). The parish council and the local transition village group have worked together to both inform people about the wider environmental problems of litter, especially plastic, and to develop a network of individuals who have undertaken to keep specific roads or areas free of litter. Volunteers were provided with good-quality litter pickers (available from the Keep Britain Tidy campaign) and gloves, and a map was put up in the parish office showing the areas covered. The results have been fantastic: lots of volunteers mean that most of the village is litter-free most of the time. I am sure that Wendy Harvey’s hope that the sight of people picking up litter raises awareness and discourages (but doesn’t stop) others from dropping litter. A campaign at the local secondary school, has undoubtedly contributed as well. However, the village has two major arteries running through its outskirts – the tidal River Avon near its meeting with the Severn, and the A369 between Bristol and Portishead. Both bring in huge amounts of litter which our campaign hasn’t really touched, despite organised litter picks by groups of local people, and the huge popularity of a local nature reserve that borders a significant section of the A369. I’m convinced that more communities could follow our example, with great benefits in so many ways. But let’s not pretend that it would crack the problem: we need action by the government (eg a deposit system for plastic bottles) and by retailers, who should be doing much more to reduce the vast and unnecessary amounts of packaging – mainly plastic and not all recyclable – they use.

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http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jul/14/guardian-readers-making-britain-beautiful-again

Posted by admin on Jul 17 2017. Filed under News at Now. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry