More than three tons of litter picked up across Stafford by volunteers
More than three tons of litter has been picked up around Stafford as part of a push by volunteers to clean up the area.
Stafford Litter Heroes, Baswich Community Group and Team Forebridge all teamed up as part of the cleaning efforts.
It saw them pick up rubbish throughout the town over last year – with a total of three tons and 339kg of rubbish collected.
Rob Hawkins, from Stafford Litter Heroes, said: "We started off in January holding our regular fortnightly group litterpicks and were getting great support from both our regular pickers and seeing lots of new faces. Then at the end of March when the first lockdown started we had to suspend all our events.
"When the restrictions were eased in June we were able to get back in action in a limited way and although we still couldn't hold full group events we got together in smaller numbers. Some of our volunteers also went out individually and targeted particular areas."
Hollie Barlow and her rescue dog Rufus were among the team of volunteers to tackle the area around the Doxey area.
She said: "I think it's a shame that some people drop litter, it makes the area look untidy, as well as it being harmful to wildlife. Rufus is my helper and tends to lead the way, so I just follow and litterpick at the same time. He's a rescue dog, we're training him to get used to walking on a lead and get more comfortable with other dogs and traffic."
And Stafford Litter Heroes even branched out to tackle some of the rubbish dropped on Cannock Chase – and held smaller-scale fortnightly picks around the Pye Green.
Car parks in the area were cleaned up and led to plastic bottles, cans and fast-food packaging picked up – including numbers of disposable barbecues on the beauty spot.
Volunteers have encouraged people to join them in their litterpicks once it's safe to do so and coronavirus restrictions allow. Visit Stafford Litter Heroes on Facebook or visit www.staffordlitterheroes.co.uk
