A Litter Solution that has been proven to work
4 years ago the Chickerell Community Litter Team came to the conclusion that picking up litter was a quick fix and not the solution. So focus was switched to finding initiatives to persuade people not to drop litter. Success of that work was born out in the results of litter picks:

April 2007  30 bags total
April 2008  18 bags
April 2009  12 bags
September  2009   (pick up will judge the latest success)

How did we achieve this?  
By community litter awareness - monthly articles in ‘Contact’ (parish magazine) , at carnival litter stalls, holding litter surgeries, group presentations, involving schools by litter competitions  (posters, catch phrases & poems ) and a public meeting chaired by Oliver Letwin MP.
     
All this led to a 10 month ‘Find a Bin & Put it In Campaign’ - getting into the hearts & minds of people and educating them. Funding was raised to take litter awareness to a new level, improving communication in every household, in the community and in schools. The traffic light formula was used so that all ages could understand the message.

Part 1 of the campaign is now completed and the biggest achievement is convincing people that we can persuade people not to drop litter. Spreading the majorities view across the community has created a sense of community spirit and pride. This has considerably reduced litter on our streets & countryside so we have less people dropping litter and more good citizens picking up odd pieces of litter. Most of the litter can now be identified as household rubbish and with more care we can improve on that problem. For the people not persuaded the programme continues with part 2 encouraging people to conform to litter law.

For more details please contact Brian Bean on
tel: 01305 770678 or email litterbean@hotmail.co.uk   
July 2009