Street cleaning group collects 270 tonnes of rubbish
Mon 10 Jan 2022
LAGER Can volunteers filled 24,561 sacks with litter and recyclables from the streets and open spaces in the London borough of Ealing. They recovered enough fly-tipped junk to fill the equivalent of another 11,049 sacks, plus 808 bags of leaves.
That is the equivalent of 270,000 kilograms worth of rubbish collected during 2021 with the help of over 1,700 enthusiastic volunteers.
The volunteers spent over 17,000 hours cleaning the West London Borough of Ealing and have been rewarded for their hard work.
The group was honoured with a Queen's Award for Voluntary Service in May 2021.
Surprise finds in Southall included a pallet-load of honey on Bridge Road and a live pet rabbit near North Hyde Bridge.
Bottles and cans made up much of the staggering litter haul.
LAGER Can's Cathy Swift said: "I'm dismayed by the delays to the introduction of the national deposit return scheme. Up to half the rubbish we pick up could be reused or recycled. If a deposit were paid on bottles and cans, I believe this type of litter would almost disappear overnight.”
"One of our frustrations is that it's not easier to recycle the bottles and cans we collect on our litter picks, but we continue to look for solutions. We also need more bins."
They have reported countless flytips and, even better, flytippers, many of whom have been fined.
They have also supported local businesses, in particular the Horsenden Loaf, Triple S, Shahanshah and Maharajah by purchasing too many cakes, breads and samosas to count.
If you have a local news story, share it with the rest of Southall, by using the contact form.
