BORIS: LET’S SPRING CLEAN BRITAIN

As Mail asks YOU to join our inspirational litter clear-up... ... and look who’s come back to help!

The Daily Mail today once more calls on public-spirited readers to join the fight against the blight of litter.

More than half a million volunteers signed up for the Great British spring Clean last year – clearing streets, parks, beaches and countryside.

organised with Keep Britain Tidy, the campaign was a huge success with 17,097 organised clean-ups collecting 957,377 bags of rubbish between them. It is thought to have been the biggest ever environmental action carried out in the UK.

This year we aim to make it even larger by enlisting up to a million volunteers for events running from March 20 to April 13.

some experts have already been drafted in – with the Wombles coming out of hibernation to help reach our goal. orinoco was pictured with Boris Johnson for the campaign’s official launch.

The Prime Minister said: ‘Litter blights our communities, spoils

our countryside and harms wildlife. Campaigns like these make a big difference to our planet and help ensure the UK’s beautiful countryside is preserved for generations to come.

‘I applaud the Daily Mail and Keep Britain tidy for calling on communities to come together and join the fight against litter.’

It is hoped the Wombles of Wimbledon Common will inspire a new generation to roll up their sleeves and clean up the things that ‘everyday folks leave behind’. readers can take part in organised spring- cleaning events – or start their own, either as a group or solo.

allison Ogden-Newton, chief executive of Keep Britain tidy, said: ‘the Great British Spring Clean is now an institution and one we are very proud of at Keep Britain tidy.

‘We are absolutely fixated with making litter-picking a sport, something every community can get involved with. the Wombles are back because we need them as never before. Many of our volunteers identify with and even call themselves Wombles so, for them and for us, it is great to have the Wombles coming out of hibernation.

‘Our environment is under threat from the waste that we produce and litter being chucked into the natural world, and we all have a part to play in reversing that damage.’

Fiona Nicholls, plastics campaigner for Greenpeace UK, said: ‘the hard work and people power it takes to clear the litter from a local park or beach is amazing. People are trying to do their bit... businesses and the

Government must do the same, by setting plastic reduction targets to end the scourge of plastic pollution and to stop plastic fuelling the climate crisis.’

the Daily Mail has mounted a series of landmark environmental campaigns including turn the tide on Plastic, Be a tree angel, and Curb the Cups. this newspaper also successfully pressed for the plastic bag levy that has slashed the number going to landfill and generated millions for charity.