Town’s litter-pickers remove 7,000 bags of rubbish in a year

An army of 22 litter networks operating across the town have taken it upon themselves to ‘change the town’s reputation for litter’.

As well as helping to achieve their goal of making Warrington the cleanest large town in north Cheshire, volunteers say litter-picking builds teamwork and is good exercise.

Picking up where they left off this New Year, they are encouraging more people to join in and show their pride for their town.

Tony Dixon, a retired GP from Grappenhall who picks litter at least four or five days a week in the town’s most litter-plagued areas, said: “Our stats have mushroomed in 2021, despite Covid.

Litter network volunteers from across Warrington working hard to keep the town tidy

“In 2020, our regular Tuesday litter team picked just over 1,000 bags of litter, and in 2021, it increased to 4,700 bags.

“From the stats we have from the 22 Warrington local litter network groups, although this may still not be the complete picture, the total haul for the town was almost 7,000 bags in 2021.

“This is all collected by organised groups and individuals, all of whom are unpaid volunteers.

“There is no ‘eww-factor’, as we use pickers with thick gloves so we do not actually touch the litter, and what we do enhances the environment and is supported by every community we work in.

“The attraction is the mindfulness of the activity, the safe social contact – all outdoors and distanced – the teamwork and the job satisfaction.”

Litter network volunteers from across Warrington working hard to keep the town tidy

Tony says the litter networks work closely with Warrington Borough Council, which supports them with bags, equipment loans and litter collection.

He continued: “Warrington used to have a bad reputation for litter, but this is really starting to change. Why shouldn’t we be the cleanest large town in north Cheshire?

“We want to encourage more people to participate regularly in litter picking as a healthy, safe and sociable activity. This is a long-term, town-wide project.”

Showing that anyone can get involved, also volunteering his time is Steve McGuirk, chairman of Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

He said: “I hate litter, and with many others I have continued to do my bit of community litter picking, although my bit is not as significant as others.

Litter network volunteers from across Warrington work hard to keep the town tidy

“Throughout 2021, our community litter pickers picked more than 4,500 bags of litter.

“If that phenomenal haul was piled in one place, it would be a litter mountain, and that is a lot of litter not on the streets of Warrington.

“As we reflect on the end of the year, we hope this may serve as an encouragement to others to get involved.”

New volunteers are always welcome to join the town’s 22 litter network groups, and if you are interested, visit litternetworks.org or message one of the groups on Facebook.

“We can see that the litter situation has started to improve, but there is so much more to do across the whole town,” Tony added.

Litter network volunteers from across Warrington working hard to keep the town tidy

“I want to pay tribute to all the volunteers of Warrington who give up their time in all weathers for the greater good.

“We have a situation where almost everyone in the population is against litter, but only around 0.5 per cent of the population are prepared to actively pick it up.

“If we could tip that population balance just a little fraction so that people feel confident and empowered when they see litter to no longer to just walk by, but to do the right thing, then the problem would really start to melt away.

We all believe in the goal of a cleaner Warrington, and along with most of humanity we ultimately hope for the ideal of a cleaner planet. We can be all be part of the change we wish to see.”