Show the World you Love Where You Live this summer

24 May 2012

Keep Britain Tidy is calling on all Eco-Schools to take part in a Show the World tidy up ahead of the Olympic torch relay which starts on Saturday 19th May.

For 70 days the iconic flame will be carried through villages, towns and cities across the UK and, with the eyes of the world watching the action unfold, we need our country to look clean and litter-free.

Show the World – our national summer clean-up, which is part of the Love Where You Live campaign – is an opportunity for everyone to do their bit during this summer’s celebrations and “show the world” how proud you are of the area you live in.

What your school can do

The actual torch relay route will be cleansed by local councils but we need your help in tidying up the following areas:

• Public footpaths which spectators and visitors will use to travel to the torch route
• Grass verges and canal towpaths close to the route
• Playing fields, recreational areas and parks

It doesn’t matter how long you clean for, whether you just clean around your school’s perimeters or take your litter-picking further afield. Whatever the time or distance, every piece of litter you pick up will help us to show the billions of people watching the Games around the world that we strive for a cleaner, tidier environment. 

Take part and get an Olympic Flame tree for your school

What’s more, thanks to Deliver Change, we’re giving away a special Olympic Flame tree to the first 1,000 schools that send us their feedback about their Big Tidy Up. The Olympic Flame is a beautiful mountain ash which grows to approximately 10 metres in height and its leaves turn a brilliant orange-red in the autumn.

Every school that registers for a Big Tidy Up kit will be given log in details to their very own Show the World webpage where they can upload pictures of their pupils in action and record:

• How many school children took part
• How many bags of rubbish were collected
• How much distance was covered on the Big Tidy Up (half a mile, one mile lap around the school etc.) 

We want as many schools as possible to report back to us so please let us know how you get on and be in with a chance of receiving the special Olympic Flame tree, which you can plant in your school grounds this autumn.

Andrew Suter, Eco-Schools Programme Manager, said: “Each year it costs council tax payers £885 million to keep our streets clean. If everyone properly disposed of their rubbish instead of tossing it in the gutter, this money could be spent on improving education and healthcare. Whether you can spare 10 minutes or an hour, every piece of litter you pick up will help us to show the world we care about the communities we live in.”

Sign up and get involved

To help make a difference, please order your Big Tidy Up kit from www.lovewhereyoulive.org/showtheworld, which includes tabards, refuse sacks and special Show the World wristbands.

Orders take approximately seven days to be processed and you can visit the website to find out when the torch will be coming to your area. We suggest that participating schools complete their Big Tidy Up a couple of days before the torch arrives.

Your local media may be interested in hearing about your Big Tidy Up so if you would like to send them information about your event please email lovewhereyoulive@keepbritaintidy.org to request a template press release from our press office.

Please get in touch with us at lovewhereyoulive@keepbritaintidy.org if you have any questions or would like further information.