Villagers come together for Mail’s litter-picking event
A PerThShire village is making sure it is known only for its tea bags and not its plastic bags after joining the Scottish Daily Mail’s Great Plastic Pick Up.
residents of Amulree, in the shadow of the Wee Tea Company plantation, will be out in force at the weekend emptying the grass verges of bottles, sandwich wrappers and coffee cups.
The team of ten volunteers decided to break out the rubber gloves after seeing their village blighted by rubbish thrown by drivers on the main A822 trunk road.
event organiser Gill Mcgregor, 51, the wife of a grouse keeper, said she hoped the pick up would become a social activity for the close-knit community.
Mrs Mcgregor, who lives with her husband Colin, also 51, said: ‘i have lived in Amulree for 23 years. When i saw that the newspaper was doing a pick up i thought why not get some more locals involved.’
There is still time to sign up to the Mail’s Great Plastic Pick Up, which runs from this Friday to Sunday. So far 11,241 people have signed up to 801 organised pick ups. To join in, go to greatplasticpickup.org.
Groups from one person up to those 100strong can register, with children welcome as long as they are accompanied by an adult. A Daily Mail team will judge photographs sent in by the Pick Up groups and select three who will win a professional spring clean for their area worth £10,000.
WHERE DO I GET MY RUBBISH BAGS?
The first 3,000 events organised will be sent 30 recycled bags to use for collecting plastic, with an additional 450,000 Pick Up bags available for collection from local councils.
HOW DO WE DO IT?
Simply gather at the arranged time, check with the organiser and get picking! Plastic bottles and lids go in the blue bags, with caps and labels; metal cans are for the red bags, and anything else is for the white sacks.
WHICH ITEMS SHOULD I NOT PICK UP?
Never touch syringes, broken glass or large fly-tipped items – instead, tell your council. Steer clear of busy roads.
HOW CAN I KEEP INFORMED?
Follow the #GreatPlasticPickUp hashtag on Twitter, check greatplasticpickup.org to see a map of Pick Ups across the country, and stay up to date in the Daily Mail.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
Organisers should log the number of litter bags on greatplasticpickup.org.
WILL MY LOCAL SCHOOL WIN A TRIP WITH CHRIS PACKHAM?
This is the prize for children and teachers in the top litter-picking school – an allexpenses-paid trip to a Sea Life Centre with TV host and wildlife expert Chris Packham to see some of the marine life you will have helped.
WHAT HAPPENS TO THE LITTER?
Plastic bottles will be recycled, as will aluminium cans, where possible. Other litter, including single-use plastic such as crisp packets, which cannot be generally recycled, will go into the residual waste stream. Many councils now use waste-to-energy rather than landfill for residual waste.