Appeal for volunteers to join clean-up day

Volunteers are needed to join a special Paignton ‘Pick Up Crew’ and tidy up the local environment.
Voluntary Action Group Pick Up Paignton are joining forces with the Custom Coffee Co and Torbay Climate Action to host their very first ever Clean Up Day in Victoria Park.
Pick Up Paignton will bring together local people, volunteers and the wider community for the event this Saturday December 9.
Volunteers will get a warm welcome at Custom Coffee Co in Littlegate Road.
They can turn up from midday onwards to register and to collect litter pickers and gloves (if they are not able to bring their own).
Folllowing the pick up volunteers will be treated to complimentary refreshments at Custom Coffee Co.
To keep things really eco all participants are invited to bring their own mugs for the complimentary drinks.
As an extra reward they can enter their mug in the PUP Best Mug Competition with prizes for the funniest, most memorable and most climate friendly.
Kicking off the event will be Rae Stanton from Torbay Climate Action as guest speaker.
He will be talking about local actions as well as the Climate and Ecological Emergency that affects us all. His speech starts at 12.15pm at Custom Coffee Co.
Sue McCormick, one of the organisers, said: “The climate and ecological emergency we all face has captured the attention of people of all ages and the Victoria Park Clean Up Day is part of a wave of activities that carry out direct action at a local level.
“As well as Pick Up Paignton’s collaboration with the Custom Coffee Co for this event we’re joining forces with Torbay Climate Action to make this the start of a series of activities that begin to make a tangible difference to our local environment.”
Fellow PUP member, Miso said: “This is going to be a fantastically family friendly event and we will welcome people of all ages and backgrounds. So for a fun, worthwhile event, feel free to bring family members, children and all their friends along to help with the clean up. Remember to bring your own mug for the warming drink afterwards and perhaps even win a prize with it!”
More than two million pieces of litter are dropped in the UK every day. Almost 48% of people admit to dropping litter. The amount of litter dropped each year in the UK has increased by 500% since the 1960s. 7 out of every 10 items of discarded litter is food packaging or wrappers. Around 122 tons of cigarette butts and cigarette-related litter is dropped every day across the UK
1.3 million pieces of rubbish are dropped on UK roads every weekend. A third of motorists admit to littering while they are driving. Cleaning up litter from the streets of Britain costs taxpayers around £500 million. That does not include the amount it costs to clean up parks and other public spaces. 500,000 items of litter make their way into the sea from UK rivers every year, impacting on marine life. The canals and rivers of England and Wales could be plastic-free in a year if every visitor picked up one piece of litter.