GMDT PROJECT LEAD: Dai Richards
History:
Covid-19 restrictions on social gatherings, forced us to fundamentally change the way we run the Litter group; rather than organizing litter blitz events, we instead launched a new ‘Adopt a Street’ initiative. This simple concept essentially invites residents to adopt a street or area that is on their doorstep and pledge to keep it as litter free as possible. We had a fantastic response with over 60 volunteers signed up to the initiative and are opting to incorporate litter picking into their daily or weekly routines; such as whilst walking their dog or along the route they take their child to school, most of those individuals have reported gathering at least a carrier bag worth of litter each time.
Our Keep Britain Tidy Ambassadors Tracy Kenny and Dai Richards worked with NCC Environment team to look at how we could provide equipment / process where our volunteers could ADOPT A STREET. Litter Pickers provided by NCC, yellow bibs from Jewsons and MKM Builders merchants, Gloves/Bags from NCC.
Quotes from our KBT Ambassadors :
Dai Richards: ‘Many of our members simply enjoy getting out in the fresh air for some exercise whilst at the same time doing something positive for the town. The Adopt a Street initiative is the safest way to get involved right now, whether you can pledge 5 minutes a day, 15 minutes a week or 1+ hour a month – the combined efforts of our fabulous volunteers makes a difference. The group is a formidable force and bit by bit we are clearing our wonderful town and surrounding areas of litter and we’ll continue to be relentless in our quest to make Morpeth a litter free zone.”
Tracy Kenny: I’m a huge animal lover and it’s a known fact that litter sadly causes so much harm to our wildlife. I’ve seen a field mouse that had clearly become trapped inside a plastic bottle and then drowned, a bird tangled up in the straps of a disposable mask and a hedgehog that had nearly suffocated with its little head stuck inside a crisp packet. It would be great if we lived in a world where no one dropped litter, but since this is currently a pipe dream, right now, I want everyone to remember that even one single piece of litter you [safely] pick up is one less piece that is not going to cause harm to our wonderful local wildlife
2024:
Adopt a Street
Would you like to get involved – if yes email morpethlittergroup@gmail.com
You can see the active Adopt a Street activity by going to Morpeth Litter Group Facebook Group :
The hardcore Litter group can be see on the Facebook page:
Attached below is a photo of our GMDT volunteer, Simon Cox, completing his Adopt a Street commitment.
