The council share this latest news. Ed
The Isle of Wight Council and a host of volunteers have backed a national campaign to get half a million people out and about cleaning up their local communities this spring.
Organised by Keep Britain Tidy, the Great British Spring Clean aims to bring people together and clean up the country annually.
Several IW litter picks
Earlier this month (March), a number of cleans took place including, one which saw a group of 17 dedicated volunteers armed with litter pickers and bags set off from The Heights, Sandown to clean the area. Over 25 bags of rubbish were collected, ranging from the weird and wonderful, such as a gorilla slipper and half a gnome.
Sadly, they also found a dead mouse that had become stuck in a discarded bottle, really bringing home the effect on our natural environment of carelessly throwing rubbish in the ground and in hedges.
Braving the snow
Volunteers joined Cowes Town Council to brave the snow and collected three sacks of litter from around the Recreation Ground at Cowes and Shanklin Hotel & Accommodation Association focused on a spring clean in their area, as did Waitrose in East Cowes; Brading Town Council 
and St Helens Town Council.
Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) Isle of Wight collected 29 bags of rubbish and noted how the Medina and Folly Inn area is affected by dog waste bags, in particular, which, unless the bags are 100 per cent biodegradable, are still long-term plastic litter. In addition, Ryde School also made litter picking homework for the junior school pupils.
Murwill: Island community have really pulled together
Cllr Michael Murwill, Cabinet member for waste management, said,
“It has been really heartening to see how the Island community have really pulled together to tackle the blight of fly tipping and rubbish. Keeping our beautiful environment, town and village centres clutter and litter free is all of our responsibility.
“I enjoyed taking part in a few of the cleans and want to thank all of the groups that have come forward and given up their free time and I couldn’t be prouder of all those volunteers that took part and those who are about to do their Great British Spring Cleans.”
Keep our natural environment litter free
Natasha Dix, waste and recycling manager added,
“It’s always devastating when we find elements of our community refusing to take responsibility for their waste, leaving litter along our coast and country.
“We have a beautiful Island and it is inspiring to see the community pull together and support activities such as the Great British Spring Clean to keep our natural environment litter free.”
Council support
The council supported the litter picks through providing bags and a free waste collection service at the end of each of the spring cleans.
There are further Great British Spring Cleans arranged for April, if you would like to take part, see following:
- Gurnard Parish Council & Costa Coffee Great British Spring Clean Saturday 7 April at 10am, starting at the village hall, Gurnard.
- Big Ryde Spring Clean Up Thursday 12 April at 12 midday, starting at Appley Tower, Ryde.
For more information about the Great British Spring Clean campaign, please visit the Website.
