LET’S START THE CLEAN-UP

My wife and I frequently enjoy a walk in our amazing rural Norfolk countryside, but have become disturbed at the quantity of discarded litter in the hedgerows. As a result, we now take with us a couple of 20-litre bin bags to collect what we can, filling said bags in less than an hour with discarded drinks cans, bottles and food wrapping – much of it plastic.

Often, we bump into dog-walkers who praise us for what we are doing, cleaning up their canine exercise routes, but few have thought to pick up the rubbish. Have we become normalised to the detritus in the countryside?

There are many national campaigns raising awareness of, or generating funds for good causes – Children in Need for instance – so I was wondering whether the media power of BBC Countryfile Magazine might be able to run a campaign to encourage us all to pick up even a few pieces of rubbish when we are out and about. At the national level, again, possibly through the magazine as the medium, I would like to see the business world or indeed Government create a system whereby people could order online, or maybe through an app, some ‘Keep Britain Tidy’ branded waste bags to take with them on their walks so they can do their bit. Clearly, any bag would do, but a branded bag, preferably biodegradable, would help to advertise the campaign more widely on the front line.

The international community, business and Government are working to stem the flow of waste released into our world at the strategic level, but we the masses have a responsibility to attack this issue from the bottom up, as it was us who put the rubbish there in the first place. Bring back the Wombles! Mike Alden, Norfolk Editor Fergus Collins replies: Litter is a huge issue in the countryside and makes me furious; we continually raise this issue in the magazine and on our social media. We are already in discussion about potential projects for 2019, including team litter-picks and beach clean-ups and we aim to get readers involved, too. We are also working urgently with our parent company Immediate Media to find the very best plastic-free solution to magazine mail-outs.