1000 pieces of recyclable waste collected during CPRE ‘Green Clean’ event

Almost 1000 pieces of recyclable waste were recently collected by volunteers from the Shropshire branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE).

As part of the CPRE’s nationwide ‘Green Clean’ campaign, 16 volunteers met in Telford Town Park on Saturday 22 September in order to raise awareness of how much litter can be recycled, whilst also contributing to a clean-up of the countryside. The event was also in anticipation of the imminent deposit return system which the group lobbied for over a 10-year period.

Connor Furnival, a volunteer at CPRE Shropshire, comments:

“The Government announced earlier this year that it would introduce a nationwide deposit return system for plastic and glass bottles, as well as aluminium cans with the aim of boosting recycling rates and combatting the plague of litter blighting the countryside. However, that system is yet to launch so the CPRE has taken steps to mobilise volunteers and clear as much litter as possible.

“Litter removal currently costs the people of Shropshire almost £250,000 annually, yet what we achieved in just a few hours demonstrates that needn’t be the case. We collected 11 bags of general waste and 14 bags of recyclable bottles and cans. Amongst those, was a total of 941 items of which 274 were plastic bottles, 388 were aluminium cans, 272 were glass bottles and 7 were either carton or tetra-pak items.

“Whilst not all of these would be eligible for the proposed deposit return scheme, the sheer quantity of waste collected demonstrates just how high the level of disregard for litter and recycling currently is. The sooner the government announces a launch date for the new scheme, the better as this should provide consumers with an incentive to see the level of waste abandoned in our countryside reduce.”