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

Day 001

 I have challenged myself to collect at least 1 bag of litter a day I have not set a goal for how long this challenge lasts but if I can do a week then I'll try and do a month and then see how it goes. I know what I'm like and I'll probably find picking the litter a lot easier than updating a blog. I'll try to blog each day the progress I make. A lot of how this goes will be down to the support and interest I get, so really it is down to you to keep me going. See what I did there!

Sheepcote Valley

Today is Day 001 of the challenge and this afternoon in the blazing sun I litterpicked the carpark at the top of Sheepcote Valley. I have been meaning to do this spot for quite a while but I always have my dog Orlagh with me when I go here and a carpark is not the best place to have a dog wandering around free. So I took a leaf out of Wayne Dixon's book and invested in a hands-free lead so I could go to places like this with Orlagh. Getting the lead was an adventure all of itself. The first stage of the adventure took me to a nearby garden centre where they have a pet franchise shop. Just my luck a massive delivery had been dumped right in front of the leads display. I asked the staff for some help but I don't think they had a clue and I left without a purchase. I then went to a small pet shop on Preston Drove. This shop had some hands-free leads but the waist part didn't work very well so I left promissing that I would return if I couldn't find anything better. I then went to another big pet store near Preston Park Stn. Again I was underwhelmed by the staffs knowledge and the sales assistant tried to sell me something I would have to step into to wear: that can't be right. My final stop was a pet store at the Goldstone Trading Estate. They had a lead that was the best of what I had seen so far but it was clearly made for someone slimmer than me, it fitted - just, but I'm sure the design could have been a lot better. I bought the lead but have decided to make myself something from leather on a rainy day.

Warren Road Carpark Looking West

With all the drama of leads dealt with it was time for a quick lunch of smoked mackeral on crakers then off to Sheepcote Valley.

I had noticed a fly-tip in one corner of the carpark some weeks ago and though it had been there the last time I came here it had now thankfully been removed. The carpark wasn't too bad, but I was sure I would easily fill a bag. I spent an hour and 15mins litterpicking and managed to collect two bags of litter weighing 3.4kg in total. I always say a full bag is either at least 3kg or a 1/3 full. The item most found was ciggerette ends and the most unusual item was a hands-free ear piece. I also found I think all of the usual suspects; q-tips, drinking straws, costa coffee cup, plastic coke bottle, plastic water bottle, plastic bottle caps, metal bottle caps, McDonalds packaging, HP2 polystyrene takeaway food box, glass bottle, and rollup filter wraps.

Nokia BH-102 Bluetooth Headset

I will save the data from these litterpicks for analysis and comparison and hope that it will be of some use. I also doubt I will write so much each day. I am pleased with the way the carpark looks now and as I go here often to walk Orlagh it will be easy to monitor if the clear-up has any positive effect. For today though I'll finish with the photo of me, Orlagh, and what was collected.

Me, Orlagh, and what was collected

 #1bagaday, #litterheroes, #tidyupteam