Pride as 300 #LitterHeroes embark on mass litter pick across West Midlands

More than 300 #LitterHeroes joined forces to spruce up the West Midlands ahead of the Commonwealth Games.

The West Midlands Great Clean Up campaign saw almost 300 bags of litter recovered from parks, streets, waterways and residential areas across the region.

In a three day litter picking extravaganza we mobilized groups into action in the seven local authority areas of Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall and Wolverhampton

The campaign kicked off on Friday 24th June with 90 staff from 21 local McDonalds restaurants, heading out on four mass litter picks. Together they collected over 45 bags, which will each help to improve and protect their local environment for residents and wildlife.

We Clean Ltd, a commercial cleaning company, also donated staff time to clean up the Paradise area of Birmingham city centre with jet washing, litter picking and chewing gum removal.

On Friday afternoon, 30 students from Lanesfield Primary School in Wolverhampton, were joined by Keep Britain Tidy and Andy Street to clean up a local park. After just an hour, they had removed 16 bags of litter, including a camping chair and large piping. The children all had a great time and many said they wanted to litter pick again. Mrs Dudfield, who runs the school’s Eco-Club, now plans to organise weekly litter picks for the students, using the litter picking equipment bought for the school as part of the campaign. 

Saturday 25th June was a busy day of community action, with 11 events taking place across the region as part of the campaign.

The Mayor joined volunteers at events in Sandwell, Solihull and Coventry. The youngest #LitterHero taking part was an 8 month old baby in Dudley!

25 #LitterHeroes took part in the event at Babbs Mill Park in Solihull, which will host the Queen’s baton relay at the end of the month.

Alongside the usual finds such as plastic, wrappers, and bottles, volunteers also collected shopping trolleys, bikes and even had to involve the police after finding a hidden knife.

Meanwhile a team of just six volunteers in Walsall managed to collect a staggering 40 bags of litter!

Fly-tipping, identified at multiple locations, was either removed by volunteers or the local authorities following the events.

But the campaign doesn’t simply end this weekend - we are urging everyone across the West Midlands to continue to do what they can to clean up the area in preparation for the Commonwealth Games and beyond.

We want to say a huge thank you to various groups and organisations for making these events possible, including Birmingham City Council, Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council, Love Solihull, City of Wolverhampton Council, Walsall Council, Litter Watch and The Cotes and Trees Community Group.

Thank you also to the sponsors of the campaign; Douglas Wright trading as McDonald’s, Jhoots Pharmacy and East End Wholesale Stores also known as Lioncroft.

And finally, thank you also to the 300 volunteers that took part this weekend, including local community groups plus new and existing #LitterHeroes - together we have made a huge difference across the region.