83,000!

That’s how many have signed up for the big spring clean ... as supermarkets join the battle

MORE than 80,000 volunteers have pledged their time and energy to join a nationwide battle to clean up Britain.

Last night, less than a month after its launch, 83,523 people had signed up for Keep Britain Tidy’s Great British Spring Clean, which is backed by the Daily Mail.

That means more than 16,000 people promised to get involved over the weekend alone. They will head out with litter-pickers and rubbish bags from March 22 to April 23, in what is likely to be the year’s largest environmental event.

It comes as the campaign has been backed by the bosses of Sainsbury’s and Asda. That could see hundreds of thousands of checkout staff and shelf-stackers heading out to clean streets, parks and coasts. Mike Coupe, of Sainsbury’s, which employs 130,000, said: ‘We look forward to working together to do our bit.’

Roger Burnley, of Asda, which has 180,000 workers across the country, said his staff had ‘a long standing tradition of leading litter picks in their local areas and I’m delighted that they will be out again in force this spring, helping to make Britain even more beautiful’.

The endorsements follow another of the ‘big four’ supermarkets, Morrisons, backing the Great British Spring Clean last week. David Potts, the supermarket’s chief executive, said he would be litter-picking with his family.

The number of volunteers is now almost four times the 20,000 who joined the Daily Mail’s Great Plastic Pick Up last year. Julian Kirby, of Friends of the Earth, said: ‘This number is staggering and shows the public’s energy and enthusiasm over the issue of plastic and other litter pollution.’

He added: ‘With more and more people throwing themselves into cleaning up the country, the Government and businesses which make and market these materials should be making efforts too.’

It is hoped half a million people will sign up to the Great British Spring Clean, which has been backed by Theresa May and Sir David Attenborough.

And some of the most popular names on the high street have pledged support to Keep Britain Tidy and the Great British Spring Clean. They include Marks & Spencer, Greggs, Wilko, McDonald’s, Walkers, Mars Wrigley, Coca-Cola, Costa Coffee, the Co-op, John Lewis and cleaning company Karcher.

The Daily Mail has long campaigned against the scourge of plastic in the environment, putting pressure on politicians and businesses which led to the tax on single-use plastic bags and a ban on plastic microbeads in cosmetics.