Seventy volunteers take part in Chelmsford Spring River Clean-Up

Over 70 volunteers pulled on their wellies on Saturday 14 April to take part in Chelmsford City Council’s Spring River Clean-Up.

Together, the group swarmed the banks of the River Chelmer, finding litter and separating it into recyclable and non-recyclable materials. For the Spring River Clean-Up they gave the rivers a deep clean: as in previous years, members of the Chelmsford Sea Cadets and Chelmer Canoe Club embarked onto the river to collect waterborne rubbish and pull out submerged objects.

The Chelmsford Lions and Chelmer Canal Trust also pitched in to help, as did the Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Chelmsford, and in total, over 100 bags of litter were gathered from the area. This included 20 bags of plastic, ten bags of tins and five of glass. Several orange life rings, a trolley, a football, a rounders bat and a road sign were also recovered from the banks.

The clean-up was part of Love Your Chelmsford, the Council’s programme of events, campaigns and volunteering opportunities to improve the local environment and inspire people to take good care of their neighbourhoods. This is the thirteenth year that the Council has held the Spring River Clean-Up, which was postponed from March after heavy snowfall.

Councillor Malcolm Sismey, Cabinet Member responsible for Love Your Chelmsford, said, “It is becoming more and more important to dispose of your waste correctly so that litter doesn’t end up in our beautiful rivers. We are still finding litter in the waterways and a key culprit is plastic bottles.

“Plastic pollution, as we have seen highlighted in recent TV documentaries, is now a worldwide problem since it is a long-lasting pollutant which doesn’t break down and can be ingested by marine animals and birds. I am delighted to see that so many people came out to show their support for protecting our local and global environment from pollution, and I would like to thank all involved.”

A video was made on the day, which you can view on the ChelmsfordCouncil YouTube channel.

Love Your Chelmsford holds regular clean-ups and community litter-picks throughout the year, which are popular with people of all ages. If you would like to come along, please follow @LoveYourChelmsford on Facebook to keep up-to-date with events.

More information can also be found at www.chelmsford.gov.uk/lyc.

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