Local Green councillors Lucas Schoemaker and Sue Fenton this week went out litter picking in between meetings and collected a big haul of rubbish from roads, pavements, verges and hedges.
They were joined by Stroud Greens co-coordinator Lynn Haanen and work experience student Pippa, who is spending a week shadowing Green councillors and activists at meetings and activities to find out how local political parties operate.
During an hour-long outing on Wednesday visiting four nearby roads, they collected two bin bags full of rubbish. (By coincidence, Wednesday was International Waste Pickers Day, which celebrates people who make a living from collecting, sorting, recycling, and selling discarded materials!)
Sue, one of Stroud Trinity ward’s three Green town councillors, who often pops out at lunchtimes with a bag and litter picking stick, said: “It’s amazing how much rubbish can be collected in an hour – I usually end up with a whole rubbish bag full.”
Lucas, who is district and town councillor for Trinity, added: “Though some of it has probably blown into verges and hedgerows from people’s bins, a lot appears to have been deliberately dropped, especially vape boxes and drinks cans and bottles. The more litter there is, the more it makes further littering seem acceptable, so it’s good to keep on top of it with regular litter picks if possible.”
Lucas has found that litter-picking is also a good way to engage with local residents. “When they see councillors out and about like this, people feel confident to come up and chat to us, which they might not if they had to contact us through more formal channels.
“Two people thanked us for helping to keep the area tidy and one took the opportunity to complain about litter in another part of Stroud – which we’ve notified the relevant ward councillors about. We chatted to a small child who seemed fascinated with what we were doing, and his mum said he’d like to do some litter picking himself! And another resident approached us to talk about an issue with his housing, which we’ll be raising with district council officers.”
If anyone would like to join their local councillors on a litter pick (it’s a great way to get exercise and do something useful at the same time), do get in touch and we’ll let you know when the next one will be in your ward.
Or register to take part in the Great British Spring Clean and Great Big School Clean, which will take place from 17 March to 2 April.
Pictured are Lucas, Sue and Pippa part-way through their litter picking excursion.