Project Profile: Winchester Litterpickers

A Group of proud volunteers set the bar for other cities to aspire to as they take it upon themselves to tackle the litter problems in their own area

What with Bill Bryson's crusade against litter as the president of the Campaign to Protect Rural England and the recent creation of CleanupUK, a charity aimed at supporting litter-collecting groups around the country, the anti-litter movement has been gaining a great deal of attention and momentum in recent months.

Winchester Litterpickers, however, are veterans in the war against litter. The group was founded in 1995 by three Wintonians, John Edwards, John Green-Wilkinson and the late Sidney Russell, to ensure visitors formed good impressions of their picturesque cathedral city. The organisation was and is driven by a straightforward and achievable goal; as Edwards explains: 'We're about keeping the streets and public spaces in Winchester clean by adding to what the City Council does through its contractors by a bit of voluntary effort.'

According to Edwards, the group performs three litter-picking activities: 'Every Monday morning, we meet outside the railway station and clear the immediate area there...South West Trains run the station and they do a good job of keeping the inside of the station clean, but there's a bit of a no-man's land of what they regard as their property and the streets which the City Council's contractors keep clean. And it's pretty important to give visitors to Winchester a good first impression, we think...Secondly, twice a month on Saturday mornings, we go out to the suburbs of Winchester on a rota basis. Where we're needed most is typically near the shops and near the schools, and if there's a shop and a school together that's a double hot-spot, because a lot of it is litter dropped by school children, frankly (not entirely schoolchildren, though; some grown-ups aren't so good either)...And thirdly, in the summer season, we've got somebody daily in the late afternoon in the Cathedral Outer Close - that's a large green area outside Winchester Cathedral which is popular with picnickers if the weather's fine in summer...So, that's a highly visible space, right in the middle of Winchester.'

Apart from at the Cathedral, volunteers typically meet in groups of six to ten people to perform their litter-picking duties. The organisation is currently comprised of 'several tens of volunteers', with a slight bias towards older people because, as Edwards points out, 'retired people typically have time on their hands which people in employment don't.' Younger people do pitch in, though, and the volunteers are especially pleased when young children come along with their families or primary schools.

As for funding, the group doesn't really need too much; Edwards claims, 'Winchester City Council loves us because we're one of the few voluntary organisations that doesn't ask them for money.' Litter picking is actually a money-generating endeavour as the group collects money from the sale of aluminium cans discarded as rubbish. The funds from the scrap metal dealer go towards purchasing litter-picking tongs, which are made available to volunteers at half price. Other recyclables aren't sold in the same way, though the organisation takes care that paper and card as well as glass and plastic bottles are fed into the normal recycling channels for domestic users. Edwards says: "Some of us separate [recyclables] as we pick them up and carry a number of different containers, maybe just plastic bags on the trolleys. Others have one big trolley and sort it out when we get home afterwards. It all gets sorted."

A sense of urgency about the nation's litter problem is mounting; in an article in The Times launching CPRE's 'Stop the Drop' campaign, Bill Bryson wrote: 'A discouragingly large amount of detritus ends up as a permanent landscape feature. Many local authorities remain magnificently relaxed about doing anything about it.' But, for the time being, the situation in Winchester seems to be under control: a few years ago, Litterpickers considered branching out to tackle graffiti, but decided it was best to leave it to the professionals at the City Council who, according to Edwards have 'put quite a lot of effort' into keeping structures free of unsightly paint. Edwards says the City Council also does a good job with litter, so, what with Winchester Litterpickers additional contribution, 'Winchester is actually one of the cleaner and tidier places around in an urban environment.' Now, if only other cities (and indeed rural England) could learn from their example!