People across County Wicklow are being asked to take part in the biggest anti-litter campaign in the country – National Spring Clean month which was launched last Friday
National Spring Clean is operated by the Environmental Education Unit of An Taisce in partnership with Wicklow County Council and supported by the Department of Environment, Communications and Climate Environment and Mars Wrigley Ireland.
The initiative takes place throughout the month of April and for the past 23 years National Spring Clean has volunteered over 12 million hours of their time to remove 42,000 tonnes of litter across the country.
Last year over 150 clean-up events were registered in County Wicklow. For 2022 County Wicklow already has 97 registered events and it looks like it will be another record-breaking year.
Community spirit is integral to the work that The National Spring Clean does and each year communities from all over the country come together to ensure their local areas are as clean possible for everyone to enjoy together.
In Wicklow a diverse range of groups and organisations get involved including Tidy Towns, Residents Associations, PURE Mile groups, Coastcare groups, schools, scouting groups, walking groups and individual families.
This year’s theme is community pride with the campaign urging people of all ages to gather friends, family, classmates, neighbors or colleagues to unite in cleaning their shared green spaces together.
Last year every town in County Wicklow saw one or more clean-up events. Most of our beaches were visited by at least one group while some got out into the uplands collecting the litter dispersed across walks and scenic areas.
Wicklow County Council is supporting the National Campaign including providing extra clean-up equipment such as litter pickers where needed. The Council will also collect bags of litter after an event that was registered with National Spring Clean.
Cllr Shay Cullen, Cathaoirleach, Wicklow County Council, said: “Litter remains a huge challenge for all of us in the county. On behalf of all the members of Wicklow County Council I would like to acknowledge and offer thanks to all of the volunteers who get involved and help us maintain a better environment for all to enjoy in County Wicklow.”
Anyone Interested in organising an event should contact the Wicklow County Council Environmental Awareness Office for further details: eao@wicklowcoco.ie or Tel: 0404 20100.
To make sure that each community clean-up can run as smoothly as possible the National Spring Clean has also provided various downloadable information packs on their website for their volunteers to read. The clean-up information pack containing details on how to organise an event, health and safety information, litter facts, useful contacts, media and publicity advice, a guide on how to recycle and information on litter and the law. Further information on www.nationalspringclean.org.
