Big Tidy Up campaign's last push

After 66 litter picks and more than 1,400 bags of rubbish, Bedford Borough Council’s Pride in Bedford team are counting down the final month of the Big Tidy Up campaign in the borough.

This month of activity kicks off with a town centre litter pick from Church Square, Bedford, at 10am on Thursday, September 2.

‘The Big Tidy Up’ is run by the Keep Britain Tidy group and aims to remove 500,000 bags of litter from the streets across the country. In September 2009 Bedford was named as one of 11 Local Authority Champions for the campaign. 

Bedford’s campaign, ‘Lets Tidy Bedford Together’, has been a tremendous success with hundreds of people getting involved to help tidy their community. An impressive further eight litter picks, including Rivercare, are planned to end the last month of this campaign.

Bedford Mayor Dave Hodgson said: “We are delighted to have been part of Keep Britain Tidy over the last year. During that time, with help from volunteers of all ages, we have collected more than 1,400 bags of rubbish to keep our borough clean and tidy.

“Even though our partnership with Keep Britain Tidy on this campaign has come to an end, we will continue to work hard to protect our local environment and ensure Bedford Borough remains a great place to live, work and visit.”

The council is delighted that ShakeAway are the latest business to join the Let’s Tidy Bedford Together campaign and have agreed to give free milkshake vouchers for under 16s taking part in any event during September. Adults will receive a free parking voucher.

To celebrate this new partnership, the town centre litter pick will be officially started by the ShakeAway Cup Mascot and Flynn the Bin Elf, the council’s anti-litter mascot.

In the past year the campaign has attracted tremendous support from many businesses across the borough. Cineworld Cinemas and 5^th Avenue Hair & Spa sponsor the incentive scheme Big Pride Points. Whilst other businesses, including Greggs, Bedford College, BPHA, Macdonalds and Charles Wells have taken part in litter picks during the last year.

September is the not the end for litter picks as events are scheduled across the borough every Saturday morning until the end of November.