Volunteers appalled at levels of litter revealed by annual blitz

OxClean’s eighth annual Spring Clean event ran from Friday to Sunday, with more than 70 groups taking part.

About 1,000 people are thought to have been involved in the event, supported by our sister paper The Oxford Times.

The founding group, Jericho Community Association, collected rubbish from the streets and the Oxford Canal towpath.

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Vice-chairman Paul Hornby said: “We covered the whole of Jericho, splitting up the streets between us. We collected all the rubbish using equipment from Oxford City Council.

“We did the canal towpath as well for the first time, because there are lots of cans and cups and things down there that people drop.”

The former town planner, 64, said: “There were eight of us and we filled about 12 huge bags of rubbish and we’ll get the council to cart off the mattresses and bikes.”

He said rural Oxfordshire needed similar schemes: “Some of the worst places are actually on the edge of the city or in the countryside. You can’t walk down a rural lane in Oxfordshire without it being virtually lined with bottles and plastic bits and pieces.

“When you look very closely you see we are deep in litter.”

Rosanne Bostock at St John Fisher Catholic Primary School in Littlemore.

The spring clean is organised through OxClean, an Oxford Civic Society project, in partnership with the city council.

Over the last eight years Ox- Clean is estimated to have removed 100 tonnes of rubbish from the city’s open spaces.

One of the worst areas for litter is Blackbird Leys, where volunteers removed 16 bags of rubbish in just two hours.

Team leader Rosanne Bostock said: “The rubbish was absolutely embedded. Mostly tin cans and sweet wrappers, but it’s quite difficult to get at.

“It’s upsetting, to be honest. We think the area needs more bins; they might help remind people not to just chuck rubbish.

“It makes for very low esteem, it’s depressing. Everybody was a bit shocked. It was dreadful.”

Lindsey and Tom Simcox by the Peartree Roundabout on the A44.

She said: “It’s not that the council doesn’t clean – the open spaces and roads are pretty well cared for – but it’s when you go and burrow in the hedges or down the banks.”

The North Oxford resident added that it was a struggle to get volunteers, with only 10 people covering the whole estate.

She said: “Particularly in Blackbird Leys, getting the community out has been very difficult indeed.

“It’s because of apathy and low self esteem.”

Volunteer and estate resident Peter Dalton, 48, said he enjoyed the Saturday morning collection and thought more people should get involved.

He said: “It’s a good way of getting out and meeting people and putting something back in the place where you live.

“People should go out and take more care of their areas.”