1st Yarmouth Scouts, from left, Richard Price, Jonathan Biss, 13, Kieran Fawcett, 10, and George Biss, 10, help with a beach clear-up coinciding with this year's Big Tidy Up campaign. Picture by Robin Crossley.
THE Island has cleaned up with rubbish-clearing initiatives to mark the launch of this year’s Big Tidy Up campaign.
Clear-up operations were held across the Island, targeting areas with litter problems, which involved school pupils and volunteer groups.
Big Tidy Up is the country’s biggest litter picking campaign and, to help promote the scheme, volunteers wore tabards and badges bearing a special logo.
County Press reporter Matt White took part by clearing litter from an unused area in South Street, Newport, joined by the Isle of Wight Council’s environment and neighbourhoods officer, Marianne Hagerup. They picked up two bags of litter, including crisp packets, beer cans, cigarette ends and sweet wrappers.
Ms Hagerup said she was delighted with the response on the Island.
“Lots of people have taken part in the Big Tidy Up and, hopefully, it can send a message to everyone not to drop litter,” she said.
Other litter-picking initiatives included 34 volunteers in East Cowes, focusing on the beach, woodland, parks and areas of wasteland, as they helped to collect 26 bags of rubbish.
Pupils at Osborne Middle School joined a host of other Island schools who cleared litter from their school grounds, while another group of volunteers removed litter from the cycle track in Cowes.
• The Marine Conservation Society carried out its three-monthly clean up at Fresh-water Bay, Totland Bay and Colwell Bay. A group of Yarmouth scouts helped collect more than 25 bags of rubbish across the three beaches.
Reporter: mattw@iwcpmail.co.uk