Shropshire Star

That's not rubbish – Get paid to pick litter at Telford Town Park

Volunteers are being invited to clean up one of Shropshire's favourite parks – and receive 10p for every item of litter they collect.

Published
Telford Town Park

The Shropshire branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) has organised a litter-pick at Telford Town Park on September 22.

Councillor Connor Furnival, who is a member of the branch, said the event was not just about clearing litter from the park. He said it was also about showing the Government a deposit scheme for recyclable containers could improve the environment.

He said: "Following Michael Gove’s positive announcement in March, the Government is now looking into how a deposit system in England will work.

"Now is the time to clean up the countryside and show what could be achieved with an effective deposit system."

Councillor Furnival said at the end of the clean-up, all the rubbish would be fed into a machine that would pay out 10p for every item collected.

A record will then be kept of all the rubbish that has been removed from the park, which will then be fed into a national database to be presented to the Government.

"We need you to collect vital information on littered bottles and cans: how many are there, what size they are and what they are made of," Councillor Furnival added.

"By counting all the bottles and cans you collect locally on your litter pick, we will be able to provide national evidence to the Government that it needs to create the best possible deposit return system for England, one that includes every bottle and can."

Councillor Furnival said nationally the cost of clearing rubbish, and investigating who had dumped it, was estimated to be between £100 million and £150 million.

"In Shropshire it cost the taxpayer £238,087 over 12 months in 2016/17," he said. "This equates to 4,514 fly-tips reported and removed in Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin over that period."

Telford Town Park was voted the best park in the UK in the 2015 Fields in Trust awards.

The volunteers meet at Dark Lane car park at 10.30am. Free parking will be provided at Dark Lane.

Councillor Furnival said anyone wanting to take part should either sign up on the website cpre.org.uk/greenclean or email cpretelfordwrekin@gmail.com so the appropriate equipment could be provided.