Love where you live? Become a Litter Hero with the Great British Spring Clean
Here’s your chance to help make your neighbourhood a place to be proud of.
The Great British Spring Clean and Great Big School Clean return between 21 March and 6 April this year*, giving big-hearted volunteers the chance to roll up their sleeves and start sprucing up their streets.
Launched 10 years ago by the national environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, the initiative started life as a one-off event in 2016.
But over the past decade, millions of Litter Heroes have taken part, collecting more than four million bags of rubbish from streets, parks, fields, riverbanks, roadsides and beaches.
Last year alone 326,000 people across Britain pulled on their gloves, grabbed their litter pickers and pledged to clean up their communities, filling an amazing 425,000 bags of rubbish.
The Great British Spring Clean takes place from 21 March-6 April 2025*, but you can sign up today.
Simply visit keepbritaintidy.org and pledge to collect any number of bin bags you choose. You can pledge as a group, individual or as a school.
Just register your name, postcode and email address, and say how many bags you plan to pick up.
But despite all the great efforts that have been made so far, there’s always more to do.
Over 30 million tonnes of litter are dropped every year, costing an estimated £1billion annually to clear up – money that could be spent on other public services, such as social care and education.
Litter also harms animals and birds, who end up eating or getting trapped in plastic bags, and injured by broken glass and tin cans dumped in their habitat.
Litter Hero Zac Robinson knows first hand the dangers caused to pets and wildlife.
Four years ago his dog Ellie picked up a discarded tube of superglue on a walk. Before Zac realised what had happened, she’d bitten into it, sticking her tongue, gums and lips together.
Ellie was rushed to the vets, who were able to perform an emergency operation. Thankfully she recovered, but the ordeal inspired Zac to take part in the Great British Spring Clean campaign.
“Once you start to notice litter, you see more of it everywhere,” he says. “I began to understand it’s not just dogs at risk, it’s all wildlife.”
The national helpline run by the RSPCA – which supports the Great British Spring Clean campaign each year – receives on average 10 calls a day about animals harmed by litter.
The good news is that anyone can lend a hand and join the clean-up. According to a survey of last year’s volunteers, 95% said they’d enjoyed taking part.
More than three-quarters of those surveyed also agreed the annual event brings communities together, while a YouGov poll showed that for over 31.6million UK adults, litter-free streets help them to love where they live.
If you want to get involved, simply visit keepbritaintidy.org and pledge to fill any number of bin bags you choose. You can pledge as a group, individual or as a school, and you’ll be making a difference with every item you pick up.
“It’s not all dirty work,” Zac explains. “You can help out by doing something like spotting a frisbee on the beach that has no owner, or an abandoned bucket – the wildlife will be safer if you remove it.
“If everyone does this, the benefits are multiplied massively.”
Keep Britain Tidy’s chief executive, Allison Ogden-Newton OBE says, “We know there’s a problem, but we also know that people power is part of the solution.
“Thanks to volunteers like Zac this growing culture of small individual actions has added up to an enormous impact, with more than four million bags pledged by our army of volunteers since the campaign was launched in 2016.
“We want to thank #LitterHeroes up and down the country for taking positive action to tackle litter and show they love where they live.”
The Great British Spring Clean is made possible thanks to players of People’s Postcode Lottery, media partners the Mirror and Clear Channel, headline partner Calisen Impact Charitable Trust and supporting partners KFC, Mars Wrigley, McDonald’s, Nestlé, Pepsi Max and Walkers.
*The Great British Spring Clean includes the Spring Clean Cymru in Wales (21 March – 6 April) and Spring Clean Scotland in Scotland (21st March – 21 April).
Make your pledge at keepbritaintidy.org
Keep Britain Tidy is a registered Charity No. 107173
