A Bitterne Park resident has set up a local litter picking project – and is offering free litter picking kit, bought through a fundraising challenge, to people who'd like to join the effort.
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BP Litter Pick was set up by Bitterne Park resident Katie Campostori a couple of months ago, after she noticed the level of litter in public areas.
"We're all experiencing our public spaces more and we've been very grateful of our local parks through all of the lockdown and Covid stuff, and I just noticed there is a lot of litter, and [thought] it would be nice to do something about that, really," she said.
"My kids sometimes need an incentive to leave the house, so it's been quite good to use that as a way to encourage them to get involved and also to sort of give a point to the walk that we're going on.
"I suppose it came out of that, really."
While not a formal group, she set up a Facebook page to make it more publicly visible and open up the possibility of other people joining in.
People 'liked' it and started to get involved.
Katie also started to raise funds to buy litter pickers to help other people join in, by setting a supported challenge to pick up a bag of rubbish up per day as a family goal.
A couple of other families joined in, and they managed to raise about £125 from donations.
48 litter pickers were purchased which are now being distributed for free to people who'd like to join in with local clean-up efforts, on a one per family basis.
"This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., and come and get a picker, basically," said Katie, who will get back with details of how and where to collect (near the Triangle) – while stocks last: at the time of writing there are around 25 litter pickers left.
While at the moment BP Litter Pick is more of an individual, or family, pursuit, Katie – who's joined in with Friends of Riverside Park organised litter picks in the past - said that she'd also like to organise group litter pics eventually.
"I think definitely I'd love to organise some group stuff. When it's just a bit easier to do that."
