Litter heroes doing their bit to clean up our region

The research was carried out to mark the launch of this year’s Great British Spring Clean, the country’s biggest mass-participation environmental campaign, running from March 17 to April 2.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of individuals take part in the campaign, picking up the litter that pollutes our streets, parks and beaches and showing the world that they care about the environment on their doorstep.

Last year, more than 430,000 volunteers, including school children, faith groups, businesses and community groups, pledged to take part, collecting a staggering 449,406 bags of rubbish across the country, from the north of Scotland to the Cornish coast.

Litter-picking is a simple action that anyone can do to make an immediate and visible difference to their area and can increase the sense of pride that people feel about the community in which they live.

Of those who took part in last year’s Great British Spring Clean, 85 per cent nationally reported that taking part made them feel more pride in their local area.

Keep Britain Tidy believes everyone should live in a community of which they can be proud, but less than half (45 per cent) of adults in the West Midlands currently agree that they feel proud of their community.

This level of pride is also reflected in the extent to which people feel part of their community, which in the West Midlands only accounts for 37 per cent of adults.

Commenting on the findings, Keep Britain Tidy chief executive Allison Ogden-Newton OBE said: “It is amazing to see that so many of us are now taking action in our day-to-day lives to improve our environment.

“Litter is a blight on our communities, our parks and our beaches and can make people feel unsafe in an area. It pollutes our watercourses and ultimately, our oceans, choking marine life with plastic.

“The Great British Spring Clean is a moment when all those individuals who are now making litter-picking a part of their lives – currently 559,505 in the West Midlands – can show their pride and join us, because small, individual actions, when taken collectively, can make a huge difference.”

Across the West Midlands, two per cent of people – just over 93,200 - revealed they took part in litter picking, either alone or in a group in their neighbourhood or other public spaces, at least once a week, with a further 12 per cent saying they litter-pick at least once every six months.

The charity wants to encourage everybody to take pride in their area by taking part in the #BigBagChallenge - pledging on its website to pick a bag or more of litter, helping make a huge difference to the environment.

This year’s campaign is made possible thanks to media partner Clear Channel, as well as supporting partners KFC, McDonald’s, Nestlé, Mars Wrigley, Coca-Cola, Walkers and Pepsi Max. The charity also thanks players of People’s Postcode Lottery for raising funds to support this campaign.

To find out more and to make a pledge visit keepbritaintidy.org