Tireless heroes clear out the river

VOLUNTEERS CLEAN LITTER, SHOPPING TROLLIES AND 150 TYRES FROM THE BRENT

A GROUP of West London heroes have cleaned piles of fly-tipped rubbish from the River Brent, dragging out 150 tyres in the process.

Cleaning a stretch of the Ealing river, which runs along the A40, they tirelessly battled through “pain and discomfort” to clean up the mess which had been made by countless dumps of litter. In a three hour mission the team were able to drag tonnes of unwanted garbage from the banks and even discovered five shopping trolleys under the murky water.

The session began with the shock discovery that in addition to the 50 tyres spotted on a recce some weeks earlier, another 100 were buried in oozing mud. Kitted out in waterproof suits, complete with gloves, the team dragged out 55 bin bags of rubbish along with some unexpected finds. 10 bicycles were also found during the voluntary exercise.

LAGER Can (a litter action group for Ealing residents) volunteer Jane Branch said: “The river wasn’t deep but this was more difficult than any other river clearance because of the volume of heavy items held down by silt, which stank! These had to be removed from the river and dragged up the bank. What I did notice was how much faster and more freely the river flowed once we’d taken out all those obstacles.”

“There were safety issues,” added Ben Morris from CURB.

“We were working in a heavily polluted and culverted riverbed. The heavy lifting took a toll of exhaustion and injury - mainly to backs and shoulders.” Also recovered from the river were 10 bicycles, five shopping trolleys and enough rubbish to fill 55 sacks. The cleanup was only LAGER Can’s second river operation since being accredited as a Thames 21 River Action Group.

The three-hour operation was made possible after the self-storage company Vanguard granted access to the river from its premises on Alperton Lane. And Ealing Council waste contractor Greener Ealing sent a crew to collect the huge pile of tyres.

LAGER Can’s Cathy Swift added: “It all ran like clockwork and we had a great time. It was a great collaboration between LAGER Can, CURB, Vanguard and Ealing Council. During the session we were pleasantly surprised to see an eel. It was as if it swam by to thank us!”

PHOTOS: LAGER CAN Volunteers cleaned hundreds of tyres which had amassed in the river near to the A40

The group operation meant the river is now cleared of its obvious pollution and eyesore spots