‘Day of action’ in Warwick district takes six tonnes of rubbish and 1,200 needles off streets

Some of the volunteers at the 'Day of Action'. Photo submitted.

A community ‘day of action’ saw six tonnes of rubbish, 1,200 needles and a machete cleared off the streets of Leamington and Sydenham.

Last Wednesday Leam Trash Friends, who are volunteers that help to clear up needles, litter and fly-tipping, held a clean up day which targeted the two areas.

They were joined by volunteers from Jaguar Land Rover, Warwick District Council, other local councillors, members of the public and staff from Homes for Students.

The group has been operating for around seven weeks and in that time, including the day of action, they have cleared 2,789 needles as of Wednesday.

The clean-up effort during the 'Day of Action'. Photo submitted.

A spokesperson from Leam Trash Friends said: “Our day of action across the area was a huge success, removing just shy of six tonnes of litter and fly-tipping, 1,200 needles of which Warwick District Council has disposed of around 600 for us, a large machete and three other knives, with over 70 hours of volunteers’ time on the day.

“We would like to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who turned up to support us throughout the day. We also would like to thank Jaguar Land Rover, Warwick District Council and their contractors, Homes for Students, the C0-op, ASDA and everyone who’s privately helped for supporting the day. It was a great partnership effort by all and we look forward to our next day of action.”

Rebecca of Homes for Students said: “We are proud to be supporting the great work that all the volunteers are doing for our local area and proud to be involved in a project with people who truly care about the environment and area in which we live in and look forward to supporting this project throughout its entirety.”

Stewart Bailey, from Jaguar Land Rover’s trading division, said: “We are extremely happy to have partnered with Leam Trash Friends to create this first day of action, especially during Tata Volunteering Week to celebrate our parent company, Tata Motors, Founder’s Day celebrations.

“Jaguar Land Rover has a long standing corporate volunteering programme and for our latest project the trading division team wanted to give back to a community which we don’t just work in but many of JLR colleagues also live in. The scale of what we achieved as a team on the day was astonishing and really made everyone proud to have been a part of.”

Cllr Moira-Ann Grainger, portfolio holder for neighbourhood services, said: “Warwick District Council and our cleansing contractor Veolia were very pleased to work together with Leam Trash Friends and other partners on their recent action day.

“As a council we are always happy to assist any group or individual who wants to litter pick with bags, gloves and collections. The recent action day was a huge success and involved many individuals, companies and the council all working for the good of the town. We are also happy to cover the replacement costs for the litter pickers that were damaged.”