Spring Clean is postponed for 6 months

Litter-pick delayed till September to protect army of 690,000 volunteers

THE Great British Spring Clean has been postponed until September because of coronavirus.

The campaign, run by Keep Britain Tidy and backed by the Daily Mail, has already had 689,935 volunteers sign up to litter picking events.

These will be put on hold because coronavirus has forced corporate partners and local authorities to change their priorities. The rearranged campaign will run from September 11 to 27 and organisers hope that everyone who has pledged to get involved will still do so.

From schoolchildren to pensioners, thousands have answered the call to spruce up streets, parks and beaches and it’s hoped many more will continue to sign up and be part of the bid to make Britain a cleaner place to live.

Earlier this month the Mail updated its spring clean Q&A to reflect the spread of coronavirus and encouraged all who were getting involved to take extra hygiene steps. But the extent that the virus has spread makes it almost impossible to continue with pre-arranged litter picks.

This year our campaign hit half a million volunteers just six weeks after its launch and has eclipsed last year’s volunteer total of 563,163.

The boost in numbers has been helped by Lloyds, HSBC, Jaguar Land Rover and McDonald’s, which have pledged their thousands of staff to take part.

Girlguiding UK also promised an incredible 100,000 members to help tackle the blight of litter and the National Trust has sent reminders to more than five million subscribers.

Over 100,000 children between nursery age and 18 years old were to join in. This weekend Network Rail also pledged 41,000 employees and £2million for clean-ups and prevention. Chief executive Andrew Haines said he was delighted to be backing the campaign.

He also highlighted the importance of keeping litter off the tracks to keep ‘people safe and trains moving’.

Allison Ogden-Newton of Keep Britain Tidy said: ‘Everyone here has been absolutely blown away by your support for this year’s Great British Spring Clean.

‘Everyone – volunteers, local authorities, charities and businesses – has shown tremendous commitment to the Great British Spring Clean and to each and every one of you we would like to say a huge big thank you.

‘Our first priority has always been making sure everyone stays safe and so, having discussed it with all our partners, we have taken the decision to postpone this year’s Great British Spring Clean until later in the year.

‘So today I have the pleasure to announce the Great British

September Clean will be launched on September 11 and run until the 27th, when we will be bringing communities back together to clean up our streets, parks and beaches.

‘In the meantime, if you are out and about getting some fresh air and doing a litter-pick in line with our safety guidelines show us what you’re doing on social media.

‘Everything we do, whether it’s on our own or with family, friends and neighbours makes a big difference in protecting the environment which can only look after us if we look after it.’

For any extra information visit the Keep Britain Tidy website.