Love where you live – hate litter

LITTER louts will face the neighbourly power of love in a new campaign to crack down on rubbish.

The Love Where You Live campaign was launched yesterday to help tackle the growing problem of litter in Peterborough.

About 41 tonnes of waste are collected every month from the city’s streets and bins by Enterprise Peterborough, which also deals with about 572 cases of flytipping each month.

A waste summit was held in November bringing a raft of organisations together including Peterborough City Council, the Probation Service, police and Enterprise Peterborough to discuss the issue and back the launch of the campaign.

Councillor Matthew Lee, deputy leader of the council, said: “The long-term answer to tackling litter isn’t to pick it up more quickly, it’s about addressing the behaviours that makes it acceptable to drop it in the first place.

“Enterprise Peterborough works very hard to keep our streets clean – but working together we can make them even cleaner and show that we love where we live.”

As part of the campaign residents are being urged to organise litter picks in their area.

It is hoped if the streets are clean, fewer people will drop waste on the ground.

Speaking about the initiative, Richard Oldfield, director of facilities management at Enterprise Peterborough, said: “We want Peterborough to sparkle, but it’s a daily battle.

“If we can help neighbourhoods to help us, we can make a bigger difference to the overall amount of litter in the city – and the cleaner it is, hopefully the longer it will stay that way.”

And Peterborough Environment City Trust (PECT) is also backing the campaign.

Kim Coley, business and environment officer at PECT, said: “It is great to see so many different organisations working together to tackle litter.

“I hope that lots of neighbourhood teams spring up as a result of this initiative. As well as a good way to tidy up your local area, it’s a great way to meet local people.”

And companies which are often blamed for the litter in the streets are also lending a hand, including Mcdonald’s and Greggs.

Matt Jarrett, who owns Mcdonald’s franchise in Stamford, Glinton, Wisbech and at Haddon Services, is running a litter van within a ten-mile radius of their restaurants.

He said: “We’re there to pick up any litter – not just our own.

“We’re dedicated to running our van and are keen to hear from anyone who wants us to focus on a particular area or is running an event that we can help support.”