The Great British Spring Clean is a campaign with one simple ambition. To bring together people from across the country to clear up the litter that blights our towns, villages, countryside and coastline and on Sunday Crucorney Environmental Group flew the Welsh flag for the Great British clean up when over 20 volunteers turned out to pick the highways and byways of the community amassing a massive 30+ bags of rubbish.

Andrea Jackman, Secretary of the CEG, commented on the clean-up.

“A large proportion of the litter collected composed of plastic bottles, presumably thrown from car windows; much of them for bottled water, some of them for sugar-ladened drinks. As a householder paying my water rates, my water is already paid for so why pay again? Bottled water has been labelled the biggest con of the 20th century often containing a large percentage of tap water anyway and if we stopped buying into this one industry we could cut down on plastic waste substantially. With rising temperatures looming we could also be consuming harmful carcinogens and hormone disrupters from bottles exposed to sunlight and repeatedly used bottles. Mainland Europe has been using Reverse Vending machines (www.reversevending.co.uk) for decades. Perhaps this could be something for us to aim for here in future.

It’s easy to take for granted the pristine green verges and the trees devoid of flapping polythene but behind these lovely vistas there is a group of dedicated, socially responsible individuals diligently collecting rubbish daily. Council commitment to rubbish management is taking less and less priority so it is imperative that communities step up to the mark and take responsibility themselves."

For more information on how to get involved in litter picking in the Llanvihangel Crucorney area, please visit www.crucorney.wales or like the group’s Facebook page Crucorney Environmental Group.