Aylesbury locals join 'The Great British September Clean'
Locals have organised litter picking across the town and surrounding areas.
Buckinghamshire Council and Aylesbury Town Council are providing litter picking equipment.
Aylesbury locals are being encouraged to join in a national campaign to help tidy their local area.
Last year the former district councils supported 63 events organised by parish councils, community groups and environmental groups involving over 1100 volunteers who together collected more than 2500 bags of rubbish.
Originally scheduled for March, the postponed clean up campaign is urging people to join in but make sure to adhere to Covid-19 guidelines and legislation.
Councillor Bill Chapple OBE is Cabinet Member for Environment and Climate Change:
"According to a Keep Britain Tidy survey: in 2018 to 2019, local authorities spent ÂŁ698,819,000 on street cleansing, this is an astonishing amount of money which would be better spent elsewhere. Our Waste teams have continued their clean ups throughout the pandemic tackling litter as best they can but we can always use extra help.
"I hope that in years to come we no longer have to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds simply putting people's rubbish in the bin for them. Of course the easiest solution is for people to stop littering, take their rubbish home and recycle it, or use the bins provided. For every person that does dispose of their litter responsibly, I would like to say thank you.
"The Great British September Clean is a fantastic opportunity for our residents to get out there and help keep Buckinghamshire beautiful. If you have some community spirit and some time to spare, please support the campaign and stop litter from spoiling our environment and ruining our outdoor spaces."
Across the country, including in Aylesbury, residents reported a rise in litter as people took to the outdoor areas to socialise.
This has subsided according to local groups but issues like discarded PPE are rising.
Cllr Bill is urging people to either use a bin or keep hold of the item until they can dispose of it correctly.
Suggestions for getting involved include setting up your own private clean up with up to 6 people or pledging to do you own individual clean up for the campaign.
Aylesbury Town Mayor, Cllr Mike Smith, said:
"By giving as little as 15 minutes to litter pick participants in the national campaign could make a huge difference. The Great British September Clean is a chance to do something good in small groups of no more than five people and to help keep local streets and parks tidy.
"Being part of community activity improves mental health which is important now more than ever as we face such uncertain times so we hope members of the community will join us to support Keep Britain Tidy and the Great British September Clean."
Both Buckinghamshire Council and Aylesbury Town Council are providing litter picking equipment for locals, for more information on that contact either of the authorities.
Email Aylesbury Town Council at info@aylesburytowncouncil.gov.uk or call 01296 425678 to get yours or visit www.buckinghamshire.gov.uk