We all deserve to live in happy, healthy, and clean neighbourhoods. Our local environment is a huge factor to our wellbeing; unfortunately both are trashed by problematic waste and fly-tipping.
Litter and fly-tipping continues to dominate conversations I have with folks across South Leeds. The issue is chronic, and appears in nearly all of our communities: on Hunslet Moor, in ginnels and on the streets of Beeston Hill, even in the middle of the green spaces in Cottingley. Yet, the conversation remains the same: it’s a problem, and we’re sick of it.
I was pleased to visit the ‘Mean Streets to Clean Streets’ event, to see the fantastic work being done by Litter Free Leeds and volunteer groups. From the displays, it’s clear there are some areas that haven’t been tended to in a while: one of the stalls showed a variety of crisp packets that had been picked up by volunteers – many of them were older than me. I’m 25 in September, so some of these packets would be celebrating their Silver Jubilee by now!
But, it’s not all doom and gloom. There are many local champions in our area, interested in a little less conversation and a little more action!
The most refreshing part of visiting this event was the chats I had with volunteers who are individually and collectively playing their part to make our streets and local environment healthier and happier. Most importantly, these are community stalwarts: veteran litter pickers and community figures who know these “mean streets” inside out, as well as exactly how we can band together to turn them into “clean streets”!
One veteran volunteer – Dr Pete Smith – explained upcoming plans for a 30 day challenge set in Beeston Hill:
“We need volunteers for a 30 day challenge from Thursday 12 June to Monday 14 July. People can help out in a myriad of ways to help improve our local environment by sparing anything over this 30 day period from one hour a week upwards. You can also ring our hotline on 07350 898885 or contact us by email on newleafpeter@gmail.com”
Volunteers are encouraged to help through various ways – including, but not limited to:
- Litter picking
- Resident interaction
- Being a street steward
- Helping observe and report refuse problems
- Can collection
- Art and creative projects
- International liaison
- Video, Music, and Performance production
For lots of us, we too are cracking on! We have many fantastic groups across South Leeds including the Friends of the Aire, Beeston Womblers, and Better Beeston – each doing a stellar job in their local areas. But, can we extend this litter-picking spirit across all of our communities? Can we have similar groups playing their part in Cottingley? In Holbeck?
In the meantime, we can all contribute by reporting fly tipping where we see it: either through the council website, or by contacting them (the Leeds City Council environmental health team handle this on 0113 222 4406).
And finally – this is a big problem for our communities, but we’re resilient – thank you to every volunteer cracking on, let’s make this better!
This post was written by Matt Rogan
Main photo: Hamara Centre hosted the ‘Mean Streets to Clean Streets’ event, organised by Litter Free Leeds
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