Grand effort fills 1,000 sacks (From Oxford Mail)

Grand effort fills 1,000 sacks

7:00am Saturday 9th March 2013 in News

MORE than 7,000kg of rubbish was taken off the streets last weekend. OxClean 2013 swung into action with huge quantities of rubbish and scrap collected in areas of the city blighted by litter.

Organisers have now revealed the final tally of rubbish cleaned. More than 1,000 sacks of litter, weighing 7,080kg were collected along with a large quantity of scrap and fly-tipped waste.

The annual challenge to show the city’s commitment to a cleaner environment is thrown by Oxford Civic Society, with the event co-organised by Oxford City Council and the Oxford Mail’s sister paper the Oxford Times.

Nearly all of Oxford’s primary and secondary state schools signed up for the Schools’ Anti Litter Campaign – cleaning up in and around their grounds.

More than 70 community groups also organised two-hour litter picks across the city.

OxClean spokesman Vernon Porter said: “An impressive cross-section of Oxford’s communities was represented. It was supported by allotment associations, friends of local parks, businesses, residents’ associations, cyclists, community associations, environment groups, parish councils, tennis clubs, Rotary Clubs and Brookes University street wardens.

“Volunteers also came from mosques and churches, brownies, scouts, and wildlife trusts.”

The Civic Society said volunteers were encouraged to find less litter in locations that were spring cleaned in previous years.

Last summer several community groups borrowed litter pickers to undertake their own clean-ups and OxClean said it would be ready again to support a city group wanting to undertake their own litterpick efforts.

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