Litter pickers praised as Bucks Council win national award

The council have won the Great British September Clean Award at the Keep Britain Tidy Network Awards 2021

The award recognises councils which helped promote, engage and deliver Keep Britain Tidy's Great September Clean through its efforts in supporting local communities, town and parish councils, environment groups and residents take part.

They beat off other shortlisted finalists including, Dacorum Borough Council and Corby Borough Council.
At a virtual ceremony which took place on Wednesday 3 February, the National award was given to the council for its entry from the Southern Waste Team which focused on the clean-up efforts of residents in the south of the county.

Buckinghamshire Council submitted an application with the report on the September Clean 2020 containing detailed statistics on the groups involved, the volunteers, the number of bags collected and the savings to the council.

The council's campaign, which ran from 11 – 27th September 2020, involved 458 volunteers who spent over 1,000 hours collecting nearly 600 bags of litter from the streets and parks of Buckinghamshire.

Bill Chapple OBE, Cabinet Member for Environment and Climate Change, said:
"I'm hugely honoured that Buckinghamshire Council won the Great British September Clean Award 2020. The award isn't just for the council, but for every single person who got involved.

"A huge thank you must go to the 30 local volunteer litter-picking groups who took to their local streets, parks and open spaces, as well as to the southern waste team who coordinated the campaign which wasn't an easy task as the council offices were closed in the run up to the campaign.

"I must also thank the Country Parks team who not only facilitated Great British September Clean litter picks at our parks, they also ran their very own 'Country Parks Rubbish Challenge'. Those who took part managed to collect an additional 28 bags of rubbish. The litter picks make the parks look cleaner, it helps to keep the wildlife safe and it also means our rangers spend less time picking up rubbish and more time focusing on other essential maintenance and conservation works. So well done to everyone involved. The competition is a great example of everyone coming together as one socially-distanced team and achieving superb results.

"Plans are already underway on how we can support even more events in the future and we're keen to encourage even more individuals and groups across the whole of county to take part. It's vital that we all continue to do our bit so we can enjoy clean and safe parks, streets and open spaces in Buckinghamshire."

The Waste and Street Scene teams are keen to encourage local initiatives and help to keep communities litter-free by lending long-handled litter picks (subject to availability) and providing rubbish sacks. They also provide free collection of the bagged litter once you've finished, but this needs to be arranged prior to the litter pick so that they can agree a collection point. Forms for requesting equipment can be found on the council website www.buckinghamshire.gov.uk