We must all be aware of the growing litter problem in our area. But one man decided he would do his bit to tidy up. Adam Stevenson enjoys his walks and runs around Sunbury, but faced with what he saw as an increasing problem of litter, he took matters into his own hands, literally. He contacted the council and they provided him with gloves, a litter picker and green bags. The council will pick up their own green bags by bins. Adam’s attitude to clearing up litter is simple. The council is under resourced and can’t be everywhere. But if we all do our little bit in our own roads, then we can make a huge difference.
But where is the litter coming from in the first place? Adam accepts that overflowing bins and litter snatched by the wind, or foxes, may contribute but there are many casual litter bugs whose attitude of “my little wrapper won’t make any difference” or “someone else will pick it up” is creating a scene of neglect.
Regular finds are bottles and cans. When will this country implement a deposit scheme to encourage us to return rather than discard these items? It has long been around in many European countries I have visited. You return your bottles and cans via a machine in the supermarket then spend the voucher. When rubbish has a value, it ceases to be litter. But some of the items out there are shameful: NOX cannisters galore, takeaway boxes, PPE being on the increase. Full dog poo bags tied to trees or left on pathways. What do people think will hap-pen to these? Put them in a bin for good-ness sake!
I will not even share some of the more vile things that I heard are regularly found, but they do not re-flect well on humankind!
And what about those who maliciously smash glass. What is that for? Do you want a dog to slash their paws on it? I have seen it myself on Rivermead Island. It is a deliberately hos-tile act of vandalism and cruelty.
There is also the issue of long term dumped items such as bikes, tyres etc which have been swallowed up by brambles. Adam spent sev-eral hours on the area around Stratton Road excavating long term abandoned items which the council then cleared away.
What started off as a casual litter pick has become a sort of addiction to Adam, he freely admits. He has got his 9 year old daughter Anya involved too and the smile on her face shows that she is happy to do her bit to help the community look better. So will you get involved? Friends of Sunbury Park regularly organise a litter pick. An enterprising lady called Shirley has started a group called Spelthorne Litter Pickers on Facebook so you could have a look there. Adam is not formal-ising his initiative in Sunbury but there may be an organised pick in October so look out on the Sunbury on Thames page. Or you can contact Spelthorne Council on 01784 451499. Get a local group together in your road and give it a tidy up. Let’s pull together as a com-munity and make a difference. And for good-ness sake stop littering in the first place!