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.
Well done the litter-pickers for those good deeds. I often wonder when the last fine for littering was ever imposed ?
It is notable that the A34 roadside litter trail increases quite noticeably to the north of Newbury
Yes, well done. I happen to agree though that the council should be doing it….or, at the very least if done by an organised group like this then there should be a council tax rebate or something such offer made.
If the councils can’t pay to do things, then I think there is an upswell of people who will happily take it on….but they should get positive reward for doing so.
I am happy to continue to “keep my area clean” but could you imagine if every road had a handful of volunteers soing the same… It would save large amounts (because of the ridiculous contracted out situation we have got our selves in to for “services”) but cost little by way of a tax rebate to some individuals….but on an individual level that rebate would mean a lot.
Same same for car sharing, flower bed up keep, winter gritting etc etc.
Empower people. And reward them for doing good.
I think the roadside litter on A34 may come from lorries carrying that sort of material for landfill disposal. Unsecured bits fly off into the verges. Unless litter is carried in covered containers, I am not sure what can be done.
Well, of course, less packaging for goods we buy would be a good start…
Meanwhile, huge thanks to AbiBinit volunteers.
Hi everyone, Cllr Tom Greenaway of Abingdon Town Council here.
Just wanted to check in and say that your councils do litter pick each week and when I walked to Abingdon on Friday I saw staff from both the Town and District councils litter picking in different locations. They have hotspots they visit based on their previous experience but we can always suggest different locations if there’s areas that need more attention at certain points.
The volume of litter overall means it’s impossible for council staff to be everywhere they need to be at any time. Voluntary groups like AbiBinit are great as it means they can help litter pick in different locations across town so we get more places overall. Ideally, people would have a sense of personal responsibility and stop dropping rubbish in public as it’s not fair to the rest of us that follow the law and behave properly.
Thanks again to the volunteers of AbiBinit for letting me come to this litter pick
Tom
Didn’t there use to be more bins around the Reynolds Way shopping area?
Yes there used to be 2 bins on the pavement but when the Vale of the White Horse sold the freehold to the shops the pavement was deemed to be part of the shops and in private hands and I have been told that the person who bought the freehold refued to pay for the 2 bins to be emptied. The green still belongs to the council so that bin is still there
Thank you Janet.
A big cause of rubbish near us is when people’s wheelie bins tip over on windy/stormy bin days. Fortunately there are a few people who go pick what they can see up local to us, quite a few people do their bit.
It’s a shame wheelie bins don’t have some kind of handle lock, like food bins, that the bin lorry unlocks as it lifts the bin up. If it tipped over in the wind then therubbish wouldn’t go everywhere.
Good idea, Kris.