Great British Spring Clean, 15-31 March

Published: 14 March 2024

West Berkshire Council (WBC) appeals to residents to pledge to pick one bag of litter, or more, for Keep Britain Tidy’s Great British Spring Clean campaign as charity marks 70^th anniversary.

West Berkshire Council has backed a bid to pick litter from streets and public spaces during Britain’s favourite environmental charity’s clean-up campaign.

Keep Britain Tidy’s Great British Spring Clean campaign, which runs from 15-31 March, is calling for residents across West Berkshire to show their pride in their community by taking part in the mass litter pick.

WBC is delighted to support the charity’s #BigBagChallenge – a plea to the public to pledge on the charity’s website to pick one bag, or more, of litter from streets, parks and beauty spots to protect communities and precious wildlife habitats.

WBC can provide litter-picking equipment to help residents take part. Please give us as much notice as possible when requesting equipment and wait for confirmation before you advertise your event as equipment may not be available due to popular demand. For more information, please visit the community litter pick pages of the council's web site.

Litter-picking equipment is available throughout the year but, please note that it is all booked out on the weekend of 23-24 March.

This year’s campaign comes as Keep Britain Tidy marks its platinum anniversary, having been founded by Women’s Institute members in 1954, and West Berkshire has joined forces with the charity to highlight to residents that the environment ‘belongs to everyone’. People can make a #PlatinumPledge to mark Keep Britain Tidy’s 70^th year by picking 70 items, 70 bags, or spending 70 minutes in the great outdoors litter-picking.

The charity reports that last year:

• 96% of participants agreed that they felt they had made a difference to their local area.
• 84% agreed that the Great British Spring Clean helped them to feel inspired to do more to protect the environment.

The Great British Spring Clean, now in its ninth year, brings together individuals, community organisations, businesses, and councils to make a difference to the environment on our doorstep.