A GREEN organisation in Saltash which appealed to the local community not to trash the town during the COVID19 lockdown says the response has been ‘overwhelming’, writes freelance reporter Christine Griffin.
The organisation Saltash Environmental Action (SEA) has for some years been involved in monthly community litter picks which were limited to only certain areas of the town, leaving much ground uncovered.
But recently local residents have been approaching the group requesting litter picks in their streets as they were noticing a lot of rubbish building up in their neighbourhood areas.
With a shortage of ‘litter pickers’ to help, SEA member Shojiro Frank came across an existing ‘adopt your street’ community scheme currently active in Yorkshire, and put it to the committee that it should be possible to create a similar scheme in Saltash.
He said: “If all Saltash residents take care of their own streets, then Saltash would be so clean and tidy and residents would feel more comfortable about where they live.
“We used to focus on public places for the community litter pick events, but then sadly the COVID19 situation happened and we couldn’t organise any more events.”
As members were unable to take part in the Keep Britain Tidy Big Spring Clean event, originally planned for April but which had to be postponed until September, Shojiro suggested that SEA should launch Saltash Litter Rangers in time for the nationwide event taking place this month.
With the backing of the local town council, SEA agreed to launch a ‘Don’t Trash Saltash’ campaign and said that the uptake and support had been overwhelming since the start of this project, and there are now 70 Litter Rangers who have adopted 95 streets, a number that is growing daily.
Chair of SEA Adrian White said: “We knew that lots of Saltash residents already pick up litter they see when they are out for a walk, so it seemed a good idea to tap into this goodwill and increase the amount of benefit to the whole town.”
New Litter Ranger Jayne Wilton signed up for a number of reasons saying: “I, like many others, was furloughed during lockdown restrictions. I wanted to have something I could focus some of my time to, make a difference in a COVID safe way to the area of Saltash I live in, thus helping to keep a positive mental well-being in uncertain times.
“I also like the flexibility. I can litter pick for as long as I like when it suits my family life and when the weather is being kind to us.”
Two other Litter Rangers, Ian and Audrey Harris, said they were also enjoying their new role and said that it is a brilliant opportunity to involve their grandchildren in working as a community to help keep the town clean and litter-free.