Skip to content

Green Clean in Chorlton Park with Cub Scouts

13th September 2019

Volunteers, including 2nd Whalley Range Cubs and Friends of Chorlton Park collected 20 big bags of litter and over 90 plastic bottles at CPRE Lancashire’s Green Clean in Chorlton Park on 12th September!

Last September, CPRE Lancashire and other local groups collected over fifty bags of litter in Samlesbury as part of CPRE’s national Green Clean. This year we chose an urban green space for our Green Clean – Chorlton Park – where we invited local groups, scouts and other volunteers to join with us between 6.30 and 8pm to clear up the park.

Cubs get ready to clean the park
Cubs get ready to clean the park

90 drinks containers collected

Hardworking cub scouts collected over 20 big bags of litter and about 90 plastic bottles in an hour and a half; CPRE Lancashire wants to thank all the volunteers who took part for their hard work! CPRE nationally collects data on litter in order to feed into our evidence submitted to Government to call for a return to bottle deposit schemes. Last year, litter pickers collected hundreds of bags of litter and over 11,000 drinks bottles and cans, of all shapes, sizes and materials. This not only helped to transform local green spaces across the country, but also demonstrated that drinks containers of all kinds are left polluting the natural world supporting the need for an ‘all-in’ deposit return system.

This evidence, which was submitted during the government’s consultation, contributed to making the case to former Environment Secretary, Michael Gove, who recently gave his backing to an ‘all-in’ system, stating that, ‘an “all-in” model will give consumers the greatest possible incentive to recycle’.

Cubs celebrate at the end of the hour-and-a-half long litter pick
Cubs celebrate at the end of the hour-and-a-half long litter pick

Evidence for deposit return system

With a new Environment Secretary, Theresa Villiers, now in post, CPRE will use this year’s Green Clean to demonstrate that the problem still persists, and urge the new Secretary of State to pick up where her predecessor left off, introducing the best possible scheme as swiftly as possible. Once introduced, a deposit return system will boost recycling rates for drinks cans, bottles, cartons and pouches to more than 90%, virtually eliminating litter of this kind in our countryside where it can cause harm to our environment.

Maddy Haughton-Boakes, Campaign Lead at CPRE, said: ‘Litter left in our countryside, streets, parks and rivers isn’t just an eyesore, it can be extremely harmful to wildlife and nature, and cost tax-payers millions of pounds in clean-up costs every year. Through the collective effort of local people, this year’s Green Clean will transform local green spaces back to a beautiful litter-free state.

‘Last year we collected a staggering number of harmful drinks cans, bottles, cartons and pouches, demonstrating how vital it is that every single type of drinks container is included England’s deposit return system. That small financial incentive will stop them from being littered, making such a huge difference to our environment and wildlife.’

Drinks containers collected at litter pick
Drinks containers collected at litter pick