Ongoing successful anti-litter campaign

There is an ongoing successful anti-litter campaign taking place in Newbiggin by the Sea via partnership working between County Council, Town Council and the local community.

In an attempt to improve the environment in Newbiggin by the Sea the Town Council has hosted 9 community litter picks between the months of February and September covering various open spaces and housing estates within the town.

The litter picks have been attended by Councillors, Officers and the community and have been supported by Northumberland County Council Neighbourhood Services via the provision of bags and arranged collection of waste.

People have volunteered 51 times at these litter picks with a maximum of 10 volunteers at any one time.  Together the volunteers have collected 82 bags of litter from the town.

The Town Council has also supported the new voluntary community group ‘Newbiggin Litter Pickers’; by providing equipment, posters, risk assessments and arranging the collection of bagged waste via Northumberland County Council.

On the 4 occasions ‘Newbiggin Litter Pickers’ have met, they have 55 instances of volunteers with a maximum of 26 at any one time. And have collected a total of 47 bags of litter from the Woodland, the Bay and open spaces. The group have also been very proactive in picking litter whilst going about their daily business and encouraging the community to be more proactive too.

At  yesterday’s litter pick, Newbiggin Litter Pickers were surprised by Northumbrian Water employees as part of their #MakeMyDay customer service rewards week.

The group were nominated by Elaine Brown, Deputy Town Clerk, for their outstanding efforts and the judges at Northumbria Water just loved the story of community spirit!

The volunteers were thanked for all of their efforts and Northumbria Water donated extra supplies of litter pickers, bags, bag hoops, gloves and hi-vis vests. 4 of their employees also helped at the litter pick.

Newbiggin Litter Pickers are currently looking into hosting a Green Clean event later this month working with  Campaign to Protect Rural England  and they have also registered for a Marine Conservation Society beach watch anti-litter event in November.