In aid of Recycle Week, we had the pleasure of joining forces with a number of local businesses, community groups and schools to carry out a much needed clean-up of the local industrial estate. Meeting on Thursday 17th October, the Cromwell team were joined by 31 volunteers to undertake a large-scale litter pick of our local business park, with some incredible results.
Hot Spot For Litter
The Sherburn in Elmet Industrial Estate is very well known to us, with us having previous premises on the site, and being regular litter pickers of this area. We always seem to gravitate towards the busy estate during our GB Spring Cleans in March / April, and after every litter pick, it is evident this is an area prone to litter bugs! But why?
With almost 100 businesses on the estate, the area gets a lot of footfall and traffic each day – this has led to an abundance of litter, from food packaging and drinks bottles to e-cigarettes and fly-tipped waste. There are also a number of haulage companies on the estate, which lead to a large number of lorries and trucks parking up for a period of time, sometimes over-night – sadly this is only leading to yet more waste within the area. Being well aware of the litter issue, we thought it was about time we hit the streets ready for another clean-up, but this time we appealed for reinforcements!
Litter Picking Team Assemble!
We contacted the local networking group ‘We are Sherburn’, whom we are proud members of and they kindly promoted our Litter Picking event to their many members, alongside this we used the power of social media to get the word out and it soon spread – with lots of local businesses getting in touch expressing their interest to join. Many were based on the industrial estate and were well aware of the litter issue they had surrounding them, so were very keen to join – others were not based on the site but local to the area, and were just as eager to take part and help make a difference! We even had a few community groups join, and a nearby primary school with 17 helpful students and 3 teachers.
The team of 35 volunteers assembled on October 17th,and were ready to grab a waste sack and litter picker, eager to tackle the waste cluttering the streets. Splitting into different teams, the group headed in different directions ready to tackle as much litter as we could. It became very clear that some areas were certainly worse than others – this includes the public transport routes and the lorry waiting zones, here multiple bags of waste were collected with over 12 people cleaning up just one short strip. Other areas were much tidier, but litter was still found, in particular food and drinks packaging including paper cups, plastic bottles and aluminium cans.
The further the team delved into the hot-spot littered areas, the more alarming the finds, with some dating back decades and many unusual fly-tipped items including a kettle, car tire, bucket and a children’s bike. Many of the team had to return to the meeting point to grab a second waste sack to continue the clean-up. The areas covered included the main street of the estate, the adjoining side streets, cul-de-sacs, hedgerows, car parks and even the busy roundabouts, all of which had at least some level of waste discarded on them. After one hour of picking our brilliant volunteers had collected an amazing 42 bags of waste, filled to the brim with refuse, whilst it is a shame this amount needed to be collected, it is thankfully now off the streets and hopefully the clean zones will discourage future litter bugs.
The local councils and it’s waste team promptly collected the 41 bags of rubbish, taking it directly to waste and recycling facilities – they were also made aware of the growing waste issue, and sent their thanks to the team who carried out the clean-up.
Thank You Litter Pickers
We want to extend our thanks to the many businesses and schools that took the time to join us, it was a tremendous effort – a final thanks also goes to the local cafe, who gave all volunteers a free beverage after their hard work! We hope this area remains clean and tidy, and perhaps next time we do a litter pick, we will see a grand difference.
Thanks to: Kingspan, Pecan Deluxe, Wincanton, Sainsbury’s, Whitewing Recruitment, Eddie Stobart, Nexus Horizons, GXO, Vertex Interiors, Monk Fryston Primary School, Redrock Partnership, Cranswick, Bean Inn and others for joining us.