The Big Clean: A Nationwide Effort to Tackle Litter

The Big Clean: A Nationwide Effort to Tackle Litter

The Big Clean is an annual event dedicated to making a significant impact on litter reduction across the country. Running from March 18th to March 31st, this initiative encourages individuals, community groups, and local organisations to come together to clean up their towns and green spaces. Volunteers from all walks of life take part, collecting rubbish and raising awareness about the importance of keeping public spaces clean.

If you’re looking to get involved in a local litter-picking initiative, one group making a big difference is the Wheathampstead Wombles. This dedicated team of volunteers works year-round to keep the village clean. Below, we speak to a representative from the group about their efforts.

About Wheathampstead Wombles

The Wombles have been active for several years, but I took over around 8–10 months ago. Since then, we have been working to keep the village clean through regular litter-picking efforts.

Our Weekly Clean-ups

Once or twice a week, a small group of three or four volunteers selects a local road or lane to clean. We spend a couple of hours collecting rubbish from the lane and its hedgerows. Later that day, Veolia usually collects and disposes of the rubbish.

We share updates about our activities on the Wheathampstead Network Facebook page to keep the community informed.

Larger Community Litter-Picks

A couple of times a year, we organise a big Wombles litter-pick, encouraging wider community participation. Around 100 people in the village have expressed an interest in helping, so I email them in advance. Those who can join us, usually on a Saturday or Sunday morning, help clean areas of the village that aren’t maintained by us. We’ve also given out some small handheld litter pickers that people can take on walks and use to pick up litter. We also help out with other community initiatives like planting hedgerows or clearing local overgrown bridleways.

Biggest Challenges

One of our main challenges is tackling casual littering, especially in the high street and along some of the busier roads in the village. However, we believe that by maintaining a consistently clean environment, it discourages people from dropping litter in the first place.

Impact

People often comment on how clean Wheathampstead and its local roads are, and I think anyone that drives into London can see what a difference we make to the environment.

Plans for Expansion

We would like to develop an app or website to track the areas we have cleaned. This would help us monitor progress and raise awareness. To achieve this, we are reaching out to local community groups for support in planning and developing the app.

If you’d like to get involved with The Big Clean, consider joining the Wheathampstead Wombles to make a lasting impact in your community. Click here to apply.