Day 015

Location: Willingdon Road to Fitch Drive
Time Spent: 20 Minutes
Bags Filled: 1
Total Bag Weight: 2.7
Aluminium Cans: 8
 #1bagaday, #litterheroes, #tidyupteam

Back to a grot spot to do a bit more. Before I headed to this spot I did a bit of a reckie round some other likely spots but though there was plenty to pick up I decided that I would deal with this location a bit more today. I may well go to one of the locations I went to tomorrow though.
Not much in the way to report here other than I suspect this will be a lot easier to pick in the atumn/winter, the nettles are chest high here. 

A bag of litter

Day 014

Location: Coldean Lane & Coldean Woods
Time Spent: 2 hours
Bags Filled: 25 (estimate)
Total Bag Weight: Not Weighed
Aluminium Cans: Not Counted
 #1bagaday, #litterheroes, #tidyupteam

Volunteers & Haul

Not sure how well I am doing with this challenge but in my defence it has been a very hectic week. This afternoon I fell asleep on the couch when I got back from work, not something I do very often. So today it wasn't so much that I picked a bag but I was involved in organising a litter pick event for a group of teenagers on some kind of government funded scheme similar to the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme, from what I could work out. So why has it been so busy. So for a start Tuesday wasn't so busy more a hangover day from spending a lot of time and money at The Salt Room on Monday getting very merry.

Desert at The Salt Room

Wednesday I was back at work and because I had not been around for over a week there was a lot of catching up I had to do. Thursday I am going to count as having done a bag because I organised two things I am please about. Firstly the start of a free events ticket scheme for Tidy Up Team members and secondly the Tidy Up Team have properly constituted themselves as an organisation called the Tidy Up Team Steering Committee.

So I guess this blog is turming into something that is not just about doing a bag a day but I will try to get back into the stride.

Day 013

Location: Warren Road Carpark
Time Spent: 30 minutes
Bags Filled: 1
Total Bag Weight: 4.5kg
Aluminium Cans: 0
 #1bagaday, #litterheroes, #tidyupteam

Yes I know I missed another day yesterday. Let's just say I was a bit hung-over and leave it at that.
Today as promissed I returned to the carpark at the top of Sheepcote Valley. Now it is too early to claim this as a result of the last two weeks but this week I only got 1 bag of litter and the weight of the bag was almost a kilo less that the two bags from last week. So I will continue on Mondays if possible to carry on this locations litterpick and see what happens.
Amongst the debris collected today was a used condom. This is possibly one of the worst types of litter in my opinion. Disgusting!

Disgusting!

1 more bag

Day 012

Ok so I missed yesterday picking and blogging. Life happens.
Today I am back on track, not exactly a full bag but it took me 75 mins to collect a kilo of litter as part of the Surfers Against Sewage Beachwear Beachclean.As you can see from the photo I am actually dressed to support England in the footbal rather than in beachwear, that is acceptable though I think. The weather was tremendous down on the beach and it was great to finally meet up with Claire Potter from SAS as we have been comunicating  for some time but never had the chance to meet up.
After some lunch I went to Bevfest to watch the footaball and met some new allies in a group called Bevanclean. These are a couple of young women that want to organise a clean up on Wild Bank in Bevendean so I look forward to working with them.

Hove Seafront

Surfers Against Sewage Beach Clean

Day 011

Location: Willingdon Road to Fitch Drive
Time Spent: 25 minutes
Bags Filled: 1
Total Bag Weight: 2.5kg
Aluminium Cans: 9
 #1bagaday, #litterheroes, #tidyupteam

Willingdon Road, Brighton

Todays Bag 2.5kg

This is another grot spot near where I live, not so much the road but the twitten that runs from here to Fitch Drive.
This will be another go-to place for me, as it is nearby and a fairly easy place to pick; it's flat, narrow, and filthy.

Day 010

Tidy Up Team Kit

Before

After

I'm a bit of a dope, and today I was on my way to go and have a nose around the new hobbycraft shop that has opened nearby before going in to B&Q to get some decorating supplies. Why am I a dope? Because I left home without my glasses. So I had to turn around and come back home. On the way up Coombe Road I spotted a seagull who had helpfully spread rubbish from bags dumped on the street all across the road. As I had my Tidy Up Team kit with me I pulled over and in 10 minutes I had filled a bag.
Sorry for the poor quality of the photos I didn't realise how bright it was and because it was bright I was not able to see the screen on the camera.
I spoke to the manager in hobbycraft and he is loooking into providing art supplies for the Mayors BIG Tidy Up that I am organising for August 9th in Preston Park. The art supplies will be for pebble painting for kids. They don't supply anything for leather crafting though which was a bit dissapointing.
1 bag 10 mins 2. 6kg
#1bagaday, #litterheroes, #tidyupteam

Day 009

Jevington Drive to The Avenue

There are a few grot spots I know of, and the steps that lead from Jevington Drive down to The Avenue is definetly one of them. There is a lot of dumping that goes on here of green waste and household waste, especially at the top of the steps.
Today I thought I'd go and see if I could make any kind of impact here. I managed to fill a bag in 15 minutes which kind of says it all really. I'm coming back here again sometime soon and will take a lot more photos to document if I can make any change. I suspect what is really needed here is getting a lot of people out here to have a good go at it. I can organise this kind og thing through my job by getting the Tidy Up Team out here. I might try to make this happen.
Today I found a bit of ceramic tile that I will add to my unusual find collection along with half a toy gun. I managed to get 14 aluminium cans.
1 bag 4.3kg 15mins
#1bagaday, #litterheroes, #tidyupteam

Jevington Drive

1 bag - no impact!

Day 008

One week since I started this challenge and I've returned to where I started. Can't say I'm happy, more bags and more waste in weight, a whole 2kg more! This might be an interesting thing to continue with. I will try to get to pick litter at this same place on a Monday and see what happens. My hope of course is that the litter will reduce.
A second day of no socks. I should have guessed that was going to happen. However, I have decided to tally the alluminium cans I collect and start to collect them seperately. I collected 9 cans today; 3 Fosters cans, 1 Stella can, 1 Captain Morgan, 2 Red Bull, 1 Rio Tropical, and 1 K Cider. I'm going to see if this becomes a thing worth doing and if it is worth doing for the scrap value.
Todays unusual iterm was a vehicle number plate. The hair decoration in the photo below was also unusual but I decided I didn't want to keep it.
Daily stats - 3 bags, 5.4kg in 1 hour.

View from the carpark including bovine

Colourful hair decoration

3 Bags and 1 numberplate collected

#1bagaday, #litterheroes, #tidyupteam

Day 007

So today I spent an hour collecting litter on Saltdean Beach with the volunteers from The Deans Beach & Environment Volunteers. I didn't get a bag full but I did fill a bucket as this is how they do it on these events. I collected 1kg of litter and I'm going to take this as having done a bags worth. On beaches the litter tends to be a lot smaller than in parks and the town. The litter is also very different, lots of bits of string from fishing and boating and surprisingly a lot of cable ties. Today is the first day I didn't find any socks!
Todays data - 1 bag, 1kg in 1 hour.
 #1bagaday, #litterheroes, #tidyupteam

Special treat for those who mentioned what day this was

Saw quite a few of these on the beach, something to do I guess

Me with Libby Darling, the main organiser of the beach clean

Day 006

Such fantastic weather, makes you want to get out and enjoy the green spaces in the city, how much more enjoyable they would be without the litter that stains the leandscape. Today I am going to spend sometime discussing socks. Socks! Yes socks!
I had not mentioned this before because I didn't realise it was going to be a thing. However, every single day so far among the items of litter I have collected there has been at least one sock among the items. Four on Day 001 and 1 each day after including today. I'm not going to theorise as to why this is, maybe it is just the explanation to why there are so many single socks in sock draws across the country, who can say.
I have also decided to save some of the interesting and unusual items I find. Today I have started the collection off with some kind of glass bead, a screw fixing, and a Wonder Woman symbol. I intend to create something out of these collected items at some point but not sure what or when just yet.
 I also found some steel poles hiden in the nettles which has somewhat boosted todays weight total.
Today I was in Wild Park which I noticed was a bit of a mess when I walked Orlagh yesterday. I could have carried on collecting litter here for quite some time but an three quarters of an hour was more than enough.
Todays data - 1 bag, 9.7kg in 45mins.
 #1bagaday, #litterheroes, #tidyupteam

Wild Park Turnaround

MacDonalds

Coke Can and Drinks Bottles

A Sock!

All Tidied Up and Ready for Collection

Day 005

I had an opportunity to spend half an hour to clear up a bit in the carpark in Bexhill Road. Considering this is on the edge of a National Nature Reserve it is sad to see how much litter is left in the carpark, and it is also a favourite spot for fly-tipping too. I have taken fly-tips out of here in the past that have included a fridge, a fridge freezer, bags of builders waste, the door of a car, and half a canoe. Today along with my bag of litter for the day I found a trampoline and a rubber car mat. A lot of the usual suspects plus an unusual find of an old pull ring, but it may have been off of a food can rather than a drinks can. Below are some of the photos from today. Today's tally 1 bag plus a trampoline and a car mat 5.4kg in 30mins.

Bexhill Road Carpark looking towards Brighton

Empty Water Bottle

An Old Ring-Pull?

Bexhill Road Carpark Looking Towards Lewes

Drinks Debrit

MacDonalds

Costa Coffee

Fag Butt Plastic Drinks Bottle and an Odd Piece of Metal

Interpretation Sign

Fag Butt

I Bag for the Day Plus Car Mat and Trompoline

 #1bagaday, #litterheroes, #tidyupteam

Day 004

St. Ann's Well Gardens

Arrived in St. Ann's Well Gardens this morning doing some work with the police and St Mungos. While waiting for them to arrive I did a quick pick around the the cafe. Clearly most of what was on the ground was probably pulled out of the bins by squirrels. The squirrels in this park are notorious for their inventiveness and ingenuity.

Managed 1 bag in about 30mins and it weight in at 2.8kg.

Later on I did a BIG Tidy Up event in Stanmer Park with 20 staff from Amex. We managed 20 bags of litter, mostly small stuff in two hours. It was lovely and sunny and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it. Though I suspect the Amex staff enjoyed the beers in Stanmer House afterwards; and why not.

 #1bagaday, #litterheroes, #tidyupteam

Day 003

Before

After

Just a quick one today as I have to go back to work this evening to train up a load more Tidy Up Team volunteers. This was just across the road from me. Not sure why the bag was here but the seagull had decided it wanted something inside. Whatever it was really stank. Anyway all cleared up now. This only took 15mins and weighed in at 1.8kg. How good am I!

 #1bagaday, #litterheroes, #tidyupteam

Day 002

So today I decided I would go a bit more local and I litterpicked Mafeking Road which is just round

How not to leave your litter out, and it is all in the recycling bin too!

the corner from me. It is definitely one of the problem streets in the area and I walked down not knowing what I might find as it has been really bad in the past. There were a few issues and it is sad that there are people living in this street that clearly couldn’t care less and have no respect for the people they share the street with.

I collected 2.8kg of waste off the street in one bag and spent 1½hours doing this. A lot of cigarette ends, and those moist wipes, plus many of the usual suspects. The bins were being

Just dump your rubbish on the street why don't you!

emptied in my area today and a number of bins in Mafeking Road were left unemptied because of infringements that could easily be avoided if people did the right thing. Now because of the carelessness of some a street cleansing crew now has to go out and deal with waste not put in bins and similar issues. You might ask, “Why couldn’t the bin crew deal with it?” The simple answer is this: if the bin crew pick up a bag on the street that then splits there is even more litter and the bin crews don’t have the time or equipment to deal with this. However, if people did what was right or bothered to find out what was the right thing to do a lot of these problems could be avoided.

Virgin Media get your act together!

1 more bag!

I also came across a problem I was fully aware of, and a problem I wasn’t aware existed. First the problem I was aware of. I saw this straw laying on top of the storm drain: this is how the straws end up in the seas and oceans. The other problem I am sure others are aware of but I have to admit I hadn’t noticed it before. There were loads of little bits of wire laying on the street next to one of those media/comms boxes. Clearly left by an engineer who had done some work in the box. You can see my facebook post on this here and the post I left on the Virgin Media forum here.

This is how plastic ends up in the sea.

 #1bagaday, #litterheroes, #tidyupteam