More than 30 million tons of litter are discarded across the UK annually, causing visible eyesores in our communities, endangering wildlife, and incurring an estimated cost of £1 billion each year for clean-up efforts.
Fortunately, Keep Britain Tidy’s initiatives, the Great British Spring Clean and Great Big School Clean, are set to return on 13-29 March, with hundreds of thousands of volunteers gearing up to beautify our surroundings. Since its inception as a one-time event in 2016, a dedicated group of Litter Heroes has committed to collecting over 4.5 million bags of trash from various locations like streets, parks, fields, riverbanks, and beaches.
The Great British Spring Clean is scheduled for 13-29 March. Enroll now at keepbritaintidy.org and declare the number of bin bags you aim to gather. Whether as a team, an individual, or a school, simply provide your name, email, postcode, and the quantity of bags you plan to pick up.
In the previous year, nearly 400,000 volunteers participated in the annual clean-up, filling approximately 462,000 bags with litter. Feedback from participants indicated that 95% believed their contributions significantly improved their local areas.
Among this year’s supporters is civil servant Emdad Rahman, an esteemed Litter Hero Ambassador, who operates the Little Litter League, a program that encourages young individuals and families to value their environment by organizing regular clean-up sessions. Rahman stresses the importance of education in fostering lasting change.
Joining Rahman are other dedicated individuals like Sarah Drakes, sustainability manager at Nestlé Confectionery UK&I, and Rob Edwards, an area coach at KFC UK&I, who have been actively involved in the campaign for several years.
The Great British Spring Clean offers an opportunity to benefit your community by committing to collect a bag or more starting on February 13. Allison Ogden-Newton OBE, the CEO of Keep Britain Tidy, expressed gratitude towards volunteers like Emdad for their tireless efforts in removing harmful litter from public spaces.
Laura Chow, head of charities at People’s Postcode Lottery, praised the volunteers for their commitment to safeguarding the environment and emphasized the collective responsibility in preserving nature.
This year’s campaign is made possible through the support of People’s Postcode Lottery players, media partners Bauer Media Outdoor, Magic Radio, The Mirror, and collaborating partners KFC UK&I, Mars Wrigley, McDonald’s, Nestlé, Pepsi Max, and Walkers.
The Great British Spring Clean also encompasses the Spring Clean Cymru in Wales (13-29 March) and Spring Clean Scotland in Scotland (13 March-24 April).