Dog walker hopes others will take his lead on litter

AKEEN dog walker has had a nifty idea to help keep clean up the town.

Colin Townend, 66, from Macclesfield, is asking fellow dog owners to pick up litter as they walk their pet pooch.

The retired chartered engineer says he came up with the idea when he read about a similar idea in Sweden and thinks it will help improve the town’s environment.

Mr Townend, who lives on Hollin Lane, in Sutton, said: “The idea is a development of ‘Plogging’ which is currently in vogue in Sweden, where they encourage people to pick up litter while they are out running.

“But it seems to be pretty disruptive to the rhythm of running and there are a lot of dog walkers around. So I thought it would be a good idea to encourage them to pick up a few things. In just a bit of time you can make quite a difference.”

He added: “It’s ideal for all ages because people can still take their dogs for a walk at quite an advanced age.”

The issue of plastic waste and its impact on the environment has been a hot topic in recent months.

Like many others, Mr Townend said he had been affected by the recent Blue Planet documentary, which talked about the impact of plastics on the world’s oceans.

But after researching the issue of reusable plastics and litter, he said although he felt ‘single use’ plastics had to be reduced, plastics have reduced environmental damage overall.

He said: “It’s a four-way win. The dog and the owner both get some exercise; we improve our local environment; and we protect the seas at the same time.

“It’s tempting to think that better recycling is the key to ocean pollution, but actually rubbish that gets into a bin of any sort won’t make it to the sea; it’s the litter that is uncontrolled.

“Plastics have been very useful to us, from making cars more fuel efficient to wrappers which make some foods last weeks longer. So I think that if people try and remove plastics altogether it is doing the environment a disservice.”

Mr Townend believes though picking up a few pieces of litter while taking your dog for a walk may seem a small thing to do, it will help improve the town’s environment.

And he says other people are beginning to agree with him.

He added: “I have shared the idea with a few people and so far it has had a good reception.”