Brigg is stepping up the battle against litter, with teams of volunteers playing their part and more people expected to join the cause.
Since Brigg Blog mentioned litter picking while reporting on the recent Annual Town Public Meeting when this topic was raised, Mike Creese has been in touch to give us an update and a great deal of additional information. He spoke at the public meeting on behalf of the Brigg Litter Busters group which now has more than 80 members.
North Lincolnshire Council has provided 30 sets of kit with more on order, while some group members have bought their own.
"From the meeting I understand there is a huge demand from individuals who want to help with litter picking," Mike tells us. "This is fantastic but there is still a wait for our orders, especially for children's litter pickers.
"As a growing group of local litter pickers, we keep in touch with each other via a dedicated Facebook group to advise what we have done in the week and to encourage each other; this is the most important bit as it's not the most glamorous job!
"Many of us litter pick in and around our local streets/park/paths in the week and we have worked together during weekends to cover more difficult areas, supporting Brigg in Bloom along Atherton Way which is around 50% commercial rubbish/50% general litter including many bottles of urine thrown from the lorries parked overnight!
"We have been active on Station Road/Holland Park to clear a vast amount of fly-tipping with much more still to be done and along Cadney Road out towards Cadney village.
"In places we are collecting huge amounts of litter dating back two decades. We have been in contact with local businesses too, to ask if they could help by keeping their premises clean to stop commercial waste (mainly light plastic) from blowing out into the town.
"We keep in touch with other litter picking groups, too - the Broughton Bloomin Wombles, Barton Baggers and Scunthorpe Litter pickers and have been active in supporting the litter picking team on the Mortal Ash Hill pilot project.
"We will also be supporting the Brigg Town Council Big Spring Clean on Saturday, 29 May."
Mike adds: "We welcome anyone who wants to join us, work with us and support us; the key to success is working together! "The aim, of course, is to clean up the town, not just in the town centre but in the shrubs, hedgerows and trees in all areas of the town.
"Last weekend it was so disheartening to see birds' nests made out of plastic and a Mistle Thrush looking for grubs amongst layers of plastic bags.
"I am actively looking to local businesses to see if we could have further support in providing litter picking equipment for the group to use.
"If you could help in raising awareness of what we are trying to achieve that would be greatly appreciated."
Other interested volunteers can contact Brigg Litter Busters through the group's Facebook page.