Why I’ve joined Yorkshire’s growing anti-litter army to clean up county – Andrew Vine

This is born of a ramble around the RSPB’s Fairburn Ings reserve, near Castleford, which many in Yorkshire will know and love as much as I do. What was once a post-industrial eyesore with the unenviable distinction of being the site of Europe’s longest colliery spoil heap has mellowed into a haven for wildlife, where the contours of mining’s legacy have been cloaked by silver birch trees.

Alongside it flows the once-polluted River Aire, now clear and so abundant in fish that the electric-blue streak of kingfishers flashing across the water’s surface can be glimpsed regularly. And in the midst of this precious place, alongside the path, a dirty great heap of somebody’s total lack of regard for the environment. Beer cans, crisp packets, empty drinks bottles, sweet wrappers, all the depressingly familiar detritus, presumably left by a group of people who sat on a nearby bench to stuff their faces and then just dumped everything.

It may be the season of goodwill, but I and the friend with me couldn’t find a trace of it towards those responsible. We’d both have cheerfully chucked them into the river. After venting our feelings in some very un-Christmassy language, we gathered up the litter and carried it half a mile to the nearest bin, in Fairburn village, to dispose of it properly.

Ending up with dirty, sticky hands because of somebody else’s thoughtlessness rather took the shine off the walk, but collecting the rubbish was worth it anyway. The reserve’s staff and volunteers would have found it and taken it away if we hadn’t, and I know from talking to them that it is a never-ending task.

Hence the resolution. We all need to give places like this a helping hand against the tide of litter, so from now on a bin bag and a pair of disposable gloves are going into my rucksack whenever I’m out walking, so at least I keep my hands clean and don’t have to clutch armfuls of rubbish.

And I think I’m in good company in determining to do more. Increasing numbers of us are annoyed about littering. In the queue at my local butcher, a woman I got talking to said that her recently-retired husband had bought himself one of those litter-picking sticks with a claw on the end, and intends to gather rubbish whenever he goes out walking in the Dales. Good for him. He’s doing his bit to help another wonderful environment that needs protecting against the menace of litter that can cause serious harm to wildlife.

This sort of people power has been given a boost by the brilliant and best-selling humourist David Sedaris, whose Radio 4 shows regularly feature him talking about how he obsessively tidies up litter from the countryside around his home in Sussex. He mines some marvellous and clever comedy from being regarded as slightly eccentric for doing so, but others have followed his example and it has all helped his local council mount a successful anti-litter drive, even naming a bin lorry Pig Pen Sedaris in his honour.

Without fanfare, a growing army of people is fighting back against the tide of rubbish. My local park has a group of volunteers who give up their time to keep it spick and span, and every year the Marine Conservation Society mounts a campaign to clear beaches.

We can all be foot soldiers in this battle, and by doing so are helping to save public money as well as the environment. In England, councils spend more than £1bn a year clearing litter, which they can ill afford when budgets are so stretched.

Those who drop litter need to be challenged about it. My hunch is that most of it is down to thoughtlessness, and a polite reminder should be enough to make people realise they are in the wrong, feel embarrassed and take their litter to the nearest bin. That’s the theory, anyway, and I’ll see whether it works in practice. It’s worth a try for the sake of places that don’t deserve to have their beauty despoiled by the aftermath of people’s picnics and outdoor booze-ups.

There are worse things that the country could do in 2022 than mount a national campaign against litter. Children increasingly concerned about 
the fate of the environment would be a receptive audience, and their passion can nudge parents into being much more responsible.

This green and pleasant land of ours ought to stay that way. How wonderful it would be if, by tackling litter, we made it a clean and pleasant land as well.

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