Play your part in the Great September Clean

Cheshire West and Chester Council is supporting Keep Britain Tidy’s Great September Clean campaign, by making a toolkit available to individuals and small groups who want to to organise a clean-up in their area.

James Darragh from Chester is a regular litter-picker in his area who has turned his hard work into a successful funding raising activity.

James said: “I started litter picking as a way to raise money for a little boy called Eddie, who needed a new wheelchair that then required expensive modifications to allow him to travel to and from school.

“I’ll be carrying on with my litter-picking to support the Great September Clean.  I can tell you from my experience, it’s an enjoyable thing to get involved in. You get the satisfaction of seeing a place you care about cleaned up and it’s good to lose yourself in a task without distractions.

“So far I’ve collected 94 bags of rubbish and raised nearly £2,000.  I would have struggled without help from the Council’s StreetCare team. They have provided me with any gear I needed, and most importantly they’ve allowed me to leave bags by the local litter bins and then collected them for me.”

The Council’s Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Environment, Highways and Strategic Transport, Councillor Karen Shore said: “James has really made a difference to several locations in the borough and his fund-raising results are amazing.  He’s a real inspiration as to what an individual can achieve to help their community – especially in this, the Year of Volunteer.  Many thanks for all your hard work James.

“I hope James’ example will inspire many people to play their part and get involved in the Great British September Clean to make our borough even more beautiful.”

The Council has calculated that litter and fly-tipping costs a huge £3.1m a year to clear up – money that could be used on other services. 

The Council’s toolkit includes litter-picking grabbers, bags, gloves, cleansing wipes, shovels, spades and full instructions for the collection of filled bags, etc.  A jet washing machine is also available.  To boost recycling, groups are asked to sort rubbish into different bags depending on whether it is plastic or general waste.

If you would like to make use of the toolkit to make a difference in your area, please email the ASIST officers (Area Streets Information and Solutions Team) at: yourstreets@cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk.  The Keep Britain Tidy campaign runs from 11 to 27 September but the toolkit is available throughout the year.

You can pledge your support of the Keep Britain Tidy campaign on their website.

It is still possible to give James’ fundraising a boost by visiting his Just Giving page at: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/james-darragh.

Pictured - Left to right:  Volunteer James Darragh and ASIST officer Garrett Jones.