Litter pick - a great success

 The weather was perfect for a litter pick in Mayow Park, sunny and dry.

This event in Mayow Park was organised by Pippa from Friends of Mayow Park (FOMP) and Alice from Climate Action Lewisham (CAL) as part of the annual national  Great British Spring Clean by Keep Britain Tidy.

Park users came to help prompted by Pippa's publicity poster on the park gates

Young and old, individuals, family groups, came willingly to do their bit for the park . FOMP and CAL provided litter picks and gloves and some people brought their own. Teams spread out through the park and into the wooded areas. 

Photo: A Sheridan

Items found included plastic bottles, drinks cans, food wrappers and containers, which had been expected. Larger items included a clothes airer and a child's scooter. But also unfortunately a few nitrous oxide canisters were found in the woods and these were kept separate from the general litter bags. In total some 25 bags were filled.   

Photo: A Sheridan

How many people gave their time? 16 adults, 12 children and 3 dogs came to help out. Thank you to all those people. Below are photos of some volunteers.

Photo: Pippa Moss

Photo: Pippa Moss

Glendale sent one of their staff to remove all the bags. What a lovely, helpful man he was.

Photo: Pippa Moss

Photo: Pippa Moss

This proved to be a great multi-generational event, such as success, the first we have held for several years.  But it is sad to reflect that such events are needed up and down the country to keep our green spaces clean and safe for the community.

Litter and Bank Holidays

Litter is not exactly an exciting topic but it bothers people when it is scattered where they want to be. The early May Bank Holiday weekend (Saturday 5th - Mon 7th May) is over and, unusually, we had a hot weekend. It was lovely to see so many people out in parks across London, but the littering masses were out in force too.
Not only Mayow Park but so many other parks suffered from the worst litter problems I have seen so early in the year.
There seem to be two types of litter generators:
1. Those that leave all their litter at the location where they gathered.
2. Those that thoughtfully collect all their rubbish, put it into bags and leave it all beside a park bin that is already too full to take even a crisp packet.
The people in first category are, in my view, anti-social, caring only about having fun and never mind about spoiling the environment for others.
The people in the second category are socially aware and show they care but are at the same time unaware that their left-overs will provide a free meal to park wildlife who will scatter the pizza remains, hummus dips, plastic bottles, glass bottles, drinks cans and all sorts of remains so that the area round the bins looks unpleasant.
People do not realise the problem unless they see the aftermath, the mess,  on the following day.
One solution could be to encourage people to take all their own rubbish home so that recyclable items and waste can be sorted and disposed of according to their local authority requirements.
This would need publicity via adverts on television, on buses, on billboards and anywhere else where people would see and take note.
This would cost - designing posters, making videos, pay for advertising space, publicise on social media.
But it is a national problem. So publicity should be national.
BBC Essex produced  a video of Southend beach after the bank holiday weekend
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-essex-44046903/southend-beachgoers-leave-behind-piles-of-rubbish

Back at Mayow Park, on 8th May, three individuals simultaneously went to the park determined to clear up as much as they could. They met up which was a delight, positive encouragement. And a conversation has started on how to reach out to schools so that the pupils will become more aware of the issues and solutions.

One willing volunteer helping to look after her park.

THREE new lidded bins for Mayow Park 20th July 2015

What a busy Monday morning for the Glendale maintenance team. While two members of the team put up signs in the Triangle, two more arrived with three bins on their van.

One of the dog walkers saw the bins still wrapped up on the van, smiled and said it had made his day!

Most of the open bins were replaced last year with lidded bins. This made a huge difference to the general cleanliness of the park as foxes, crows and squirrels found it harder to get to the litter while they scavenged for food waste and scattered rubbish everywhere. However we still had a few well-used open bins which generated strewn rubbish so we put in a special request for replacements.
With  budgets for parks reduced significantly, we thought the Friends might have to do some fund-raising but Glendale came to our aid. There was a small amount left from the purchase and installation of the outdoor gym and trim trail and the need for bins was a high priority so Glendale agreed to use those funds to help us in our efforts to look after the park. Thank you to Dave and Lee for installing the new bins. They are much appreciated.

team Glendale digging out the foundations of an old open bin

Our regular, responsible dog walkers were particularly pleased about the new bins.
Not only do they throw away  bagged dog waste from their own dogs, they also pick up dog waste that some less responsible dog owners ignore! AND they collect rubbish carelessly left by some others such as cans, cartons, crisp packets and plenty of cigarette stubs. What a credit they are to the park.

One delighted dog owner hides behind bin, watched by bemused dog.

Litter and dog fouling

As the park gets busier over the coming months, we can expect to find more litter and dog fouling. Most of the dog walkers in Mayow Park are very careful to pick up after them but not all. Our new park keeper is only in the park on two days a week and he does not yet know the 'grot spots' where litter accumulates, particularly where drinkers and smokers congregate. I hope that regular park users will help him out by letting him know of any specific dog mess and litter. After another week or two he should be more familiar with the park and better able to go straight to the problem areas.
Two of our dog walkers have offered to collect litter and dog mess as they walk round the park, which is very considerate of them. I would like to check with Glendale about health and safety implications plus provision of litter sticks, gloves and rubbish bags.
The following photos are not a pretty sight, showing litter and dog fouling which remained for several days.

Alona