Keep Britain Tidy and Waste Watch: charities merge
11 August 2011
The decision, taken by both trustee boards, follows a year-long strategic alliance, and brings together two like-minded charities with distinctive, but complementary agendas.
The combination of Waste Watch’s practical, grassroots action to encourage people to live more sustainably and Keep Britain Tidy’s experience in campaigning and local environmental quality allows both organisations to grow and promote their messages more effectively, and to a wider audience. It will also result in a single, stronger charity better able to face the challenges ahead.
Keep Britain Tidy’s Chief Executive Phil Barton said: ‘This merger is an exciting development for us.
‘There is a clear link between the issues of litter and local environmental quality and the wider waste, recycling and sustainability agendas, as the Government recognised recently in the Waste Review, so bringing the two organisations together is an important and positive step forward.
‘Keep Britain Tidy is probably best known for its anti-litter campaigning, but litter is not only a blight on our streets and green spaces, it also enters the waste stream and generally ends up in landfill.
‘We don’t just want to stop people dropping litter. We want to encourage individuals and organisations to reuse and recycle as much as possible, to make choices that will reduce the amount of resources they use and to take care of their local environments.
‘A joined-up approach to local environmental quality and the wider waste and sustainability agenda is vital – we need to think global and act local.’
Waste Watch’s Executive Director Stewart Crocker said: ‘This is a momentous occasion for Keep Britain Tidy and Waste Watch. Individually both charities have made significant contributions to the way we view waste and litter over the years. But we believe we can increase the impact of both organisations through this merger.
‘Waste Watch has successfully championed the social benefits of a sustainable lifestyle, showing how we can improve the well-being of communities whilst reducing their environmental footprint. This merger allows us, through our combined skills, resources and experience, to link up local and global issues using an approach that will make an even greater difference to people’s lives and the health of the planet.’
Both the Keep Britain Tidy and Waste Watch brands are retained in the merger, but Keep Britain Tidy becomes the trading name. The merged organisation also keeps the current Keep Britain Tidy office in Wigan and the Waste Watch office in London.
A review will take place later this year with a new strategy and business plan being published in April 2012. Phil Barton becomes the Chief Executive of the merged organisation and Stewart Crocker will continue to support the transition as a consultant. Chair of Waste Watch, Mathew Bennett, becomes Vice-Chair of the new Board working with Keep Britain Tidy Chairman, Mike Phillips.