Our First Litter Pick!

by Gemma Brimble

As someone who was brought up knowing that littering was abhorrent, and being passionate about animals and the environment I got super excited when Tanya mentioned a weekend dedicated to litter picking.

I borrowed a litter picker from a friend and I purchased a mini picker for my daughter so that she could join me. We chose to do just ten minutes whilst walking to the playground and then whilst my daughter played I scurried around for a few more minutes. I managed to fill a recycling bag and a black bag in no time at all. I was really shocked at the sheer volume of litter.

It was strangely therapeutic and actually quite a giggle trying to prise objects out of brambles or wrestle them through fences and into the bags! I am super excited to get involved properly with some support from Keep Wales Tidy and my local litter picking group.

Equipment you will need:
* Gloves- gardening gloves or latex gloves if using a picker
* A litter picker (either borrowed from a local litter picking group or bought online for a few pounds
* Some alcohol hand gel for sanitising your hands afterwards
* Some bags – any bag will do or you can get specific litter picking bags (red in colour) which you can then leave by any public bin for collection by the council. Contact lovewhereyoulive@cardiff.gov.uk for Cardiff.

I would suggest it is easiest to do it in pairs so one of you can take a recycling bag and one hold a general waste bag as I feel it might be tricky to hold both! Always thoroughly clean your hands and wash your gloves after litter picking and dispose of anything you pick up properly.

I was really chuffed with what we achieved after our first litter pick in such a short amount of time and I am already planning to do it again! It felt really good to be doing my bit to clean up the area and potentially stop wildlife and the environment being further harmed. However, I did feel like it was a ‘drop in the ocean’ so I want to encourage all my family & friends to do a litter pick when they can. If everyone picked up just one bit of litter on all their runs and walks Wales would be a much cleaner, tidier place!

Keep Wales Tidy are doing a nationwide Spring Clean Cymru (28 May – 13 June). You can simply register your support by pledging on the page and stating how many minutes you are going to give to the campaign. You could pick up litter whilst on a run, walking the dog or on the walk to school.

https://kwt.eu.rit.org.uk/forms/spring-clean-cymru-pledge-to-pick

I’d love it if all my she runs cardiff ladies and their families could join me!