Parish Pickers

Formed to combat the ever-growing litter problem

So far we have collected

672

bin liners full of litter

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Upcoming litter picks...

Sunday 29 November

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Litter Picking Facts

  • Fact 1 - A Keep Britain Tidy study revealed that 25% of smokers do not think discarding a cigarette butt is littering. 226 million cigarette butts are discarded in England every year.
  • Fact 2 - 2.25 million pieces of litter are dropped on UK streets every day [source: Symphony Environmental].
  • Fact 3 - Here is a general guide to how long litter can last: Two Weeks: Apple Cores 1 Month: Paper towels, paper bags, newspapers and tissues Six Weeks: Cereal boxes, Banana Skins 2-3 Months: Waxed milk and fruit juice cartons, biodegradable plastic bags 6 Months: Cotton Clothing, Paperback books 1 Year: Light woollen clothing 2 Years: Orange peel, plywood, cigarette ends 5 Years: Heavy woollen clothing 10-20 Years: Light weight plastic bags 30-40 Years: Nylon items, Disposable nappies 50 Years: Tin cans, car tyres, leather, trainers, foam coffee cups 75-80 Years: Crisp packets made of metallised plastic film 100 Years: A six pack plastic ring holder 200 Years: Aluminium drinks cans 500 Years: Plastic bottles 1-2 million years: Glass jars and bottles
  • Fact 4 - Keep Britain Tidy has run the Local Environment Quality survey for the past 13 years. Of the 7,200 sites surveyed in England: 83% had smokers’ materials, 69% had confectionary packaging, 54% had soft drink tins and bottles, 24% had fast food items, 21% had snack packaging, 20% had discarded bottles of alcohol and 8% had broken glass.
  • Fact 5 - Funding for cleaning rural roads and roads other than major highways was cut by £74m between 2010 and 2014. “If someone drops a bottle on a street in a city, someone is paid to pick it up. The chances of a bottle in a hedgerow being collected is almost zero”, says CPRE’s Samantha Harding.
  • Fact 6 - The RSPCA receives 7,000 calls a year about litter-related incidents, from badger cubs with plastic can holders embedded in their necks to hedgehogs with their heads wedged in empty tins. Litter can also attract animals to the roadside where they are in greater danger.
  • Fact 7 - According to the Marine Conservation Society, each year around 1,963 pieces of litter are collected per kilometre by their litter pickers along the UK coastline. It is estimated that by 2050, the weight of plastic in the oceans will be greater than the weight of fish, according to a report from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, in partnership with the World Economic Forum.
  • Fact 8 - 60,000 people in England are believed to volunteer to clear up litter.

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Parish Pickers

What is Parish Pickers?

Parish Pickers was founded by Stuart Jarvis, former Chairman of Copythorne Parish Council, in February 2019, with the aim of collecting litter in the Parish of Copythorne. We are a not-for-profit Community Group, staffed entirely by volunteers.

It was becoming all too clear to the residents of Copythorne that the litter problem within the Parish was getting worse. A growth in the number of takeaway food and beverage outlets had come at the same time as a squeeze on council budgets and services, so greater quantities of litter were now less likely to be cleared away. Research by “Keep Britain Tidy” has established that people will drop litter far more readily when they see litter is already there, and so the problem gets worse. Litter also signals a lack of local care and is linked to higher levels of graffiti, vandalism and crime.

Parish Pickers is our response to this situation. Since February we have been organising litter picking events on a weekly basis subject to weather conditions. We have a wonderful group of volunteers and strong bonds of friendship are being formed amongst them. Very few turn up to every event, and if you chose to join us, we would be delighted to see you just as often as you want to come along. We are a very friendly group and are grateful for all the help we can get. Litter picking can be surprisingly good fun especially on a sunny day! You’ll get toots and thumbs up from passing motorists and lots of thanks from members of the public supporting our efforts. After just an hour you’ll feel really good knowing that you have done your bit for the environment we all share and enjoy. The great thing is that it works, we are already noticing that litter accumulates at a slower rate in areas we have cleared before. So come and join us next Sunday, this is your chance to lead by example and to help your community.

Our wider ambitions are to become a model organisation that can be replicated in other parishes and to help educate those people of all ages and backgrounds who have been entrusted with packaging but who aren’t quite bright enough to work out what they should do with it.

WE NEED TO ACT. Give it some thought and join us for a Litter Picking Outing.