There was a One Planet Abingdon stall on the Market Place today. The focus from January – March 2024 is Waste Reduction. On the website https://oneplanetabingdon.org/green-forum/ there is a survey on Waste Reduction which takes about 5-10 minutes to complete. They also have four waste reduction challenges people can take on.

Their base in the County Hall basement is open from Thursday to Saturday and most Sundays. There are homemade cakes, teas and coffees, soup, friendly volunteers happy to chat, displays on sustainability, an eco-library, and board games and puzzles.

Sunshine and 12 volunteers joined Lynne from AbiBinit to tackle litter in South Abingdon’s Caldecott area.

People had mixed reactions. A young woman was happy about the cleared hedge by the Reynolds Way supermarket, saying “Thanks so much! It was minging!” Another person said the rubbish would be back again in no time. Someone asked who they were, and when they learned they were volunteers, said the council should do it, not volunteers.

After 2 hours, the volunteers had filled 26 bags with rubbish.

Town Councillor Tom Greenaway (who also volunteered) thanked Lynne with a letter from the Mayor and council for all their hard work. AbiBinit has been cleaning up Abingdon since 2018, and encouraging volunteering, first with Helen and now with Lynne. Check them out at https://abingdoncivicsociety.org.uk/activities/abibinit-litter-picking-initiative.

Last year, Tim sent some pictures of bulb planting by Appleford / Compton Drive residents. He says they went up a league last week and planted three trees on the verge for all the excellent reasons trees get planted. It was a multi-generational event with everyone from toddlers to dodderers joining in. Tim says they plan to continue to manage the space for the community and the environment by encouraging wildflowers and maintaining the grass for wildlife. They’ll mow paths through it that many children love to run through.

The Abibinit litter pickers were in action this morning on the Ock Valley Walk, clearing away all the rubbish the floods left behind. They must have filled at least 20 bags! A big thanks to them, especially so soon after all the water chaos.

There are still some signs of the flooding, though. The river has some logs and fallen trees floating around. But the good news is there is now very little litter.