MALVERN Hills District Council took the fight against the scourge of single use plastic to the streets as part of its latest litter pick.
Volunteers on the authority’s Litter Hit Squad – including one lady who was visiting from Singapore – joined Coun David Watkins and Ben Roberts from Fortis Living to take part in the Great Plastic Pick Up.
The pick was part of a national campaign led by Keep Britain Tidy and the Daily Mail to highlight the prevalence of plastic litter and its impact on the environment.
In total the group collected 11 bags of rubbish from Townsend Way and the footpath network around Malvern Shopping Park, with two of them full of plastic items.
Plastic bottles and plastic bottle tops were among the most common items collected.
There were also some unusual finds including a fold-down camping chair and a wardrobe.
Coun Bronwen Behan, responsible for environment on Malvern Hills District Council, said: “Litter not only blights our beautiful district but harms our wildlife and can have other consequences including contaminating the soil and waterways.
“As a council we’re playing our part by asking our staff to look at ways they can reduce their plastic consumption and we’re also encouraging and supporting our residents to do the same including the introduction of our Environment Week later in the year.”
Littering is becoming an increasing problem across the UK and costs councils £800million a year in clear up costs.
Plastic litter is a particular problem as it takes a long time to biodegrade.
A plastic bottle takes on average 450 years to break down.
