Litter heroes were out in force at Rickmansworth Aquadrome on the morning of Saturday 14th March. Local residents were invited to litter pick in a bid to keep Britain tidy.
The litter pick was organised by the local Green Party as part of the Great British Spring Clean initiative which hopes to mobilise faith groups, schools, community groups and businesses to get involved in keeping public spaces clean. Equipment, such as gloves, high vis vests and litter pickers were borrowed from Three Rivers District Council.
“The Aquadrome is a beautiful part of Rickmansworth. I visit most days and I’d noticed that there was a bit of rubbish around so I thought why not organize as a group to clean it all up before the plants start growing back in Spring” said Paul Dawson, Green Party Councillor at Batchworth Community Council.
Volunteers gathered at Café in the Park before they set off for a litter pick around the two lakes. Covering 41 hectares of land, the Aquadrome is one of Rickmansworth’s largest local nature reserves with a range of wildlife and plants. Visitors can enjoy wooded walks, lakes and large green open spaces ideal for picnics and family days out. Despite its natural beauty frequent visitors means that rubbish can get left behind and accumulate.
“The worst offenders are soft plastics like food wrappers and dog bags. Whether by accident or not, they can get blown into the bushes and are hard to spot. They can quickly break up into small pieces which are almost impossible to fully recover from the mud and leaves. It isworrying to think that wildlife might be adversely affected by this.” The prize for the oldest piece of litter went to a retro Pepsi can which the design suggests is from the 1980’s!
Community organizing made sense to Paul: “Looking after our green spaces is something we can all get involved in and why not make an event out of it so we can have some fun too. I’m pleased that lots of people wanted to stop and chat and thank us for doing a good job”.