Taking part in the Great British September Clean // AD

*Advertorial Feature* 

This September, wilko are sponsoring the Great British September Clean event in partnership with Keep Britain Tidy. People around the UK are encouraged to take part and do their bit during the event between 11^th and 27^th September to keep their community tidy. 

One of the things I remember most vividly during lockdown earlier in the year was how clean the streets looked. There was very little litter in our road; there was no takeaway packets or empty bottles. It was obvious people were outside enjoying their daily walk and taking pride in the appearance of the local area. Fast forward to now, many people have gone back to work, the shops are back open and new school term is in full swing, which means one thing; more litter on the streets and in our community.  

Help your community

It’s really important we keep our local communities clean as the environment, which flourished during lockdown, will begin to deteriorate affecting wildlife and local natural habitats. 

My boys are very much aware of the litter we usually see on the school run. Olly has previously taken part in a litter pick with his class during school hours and he was so shocked at the amount of litter they picked up. When he got home he asked if we could litter pick in our road and I was so proud of him for thinking about the environment and how we could improve it. 

Litter picking the school run

We recently took part in a litter pick on our usual school run route. It’s a busy route with many pedestrians walking from the nearby town with bakery packets and drinks cans littering the pavement and the park. Most recently, the bad weather has made this worse with litter being blown around from recycling bins being knocked over and the contents flying around in the wind.   

Great value products from wilko 

As part of our litter pick, wilko sent us some products to use and they have been really good. As an existing wilko customer, I’m fond of their high quality products with great value prices. The products we used on our litter pick included the litter picker with trigger grip handles. These are priced at just £5 each which is a brilliant price. The tip has a magnet to attract metal pieces and the trigger grip handle made it easy to use.  We all wore adult high visibility vests which are £3.25, these are essential when cleaning the pavements with the autumn nights drawing in. We filled wilko clear refuse sacks, just £2 a roll, and used the hand sanitiser liquid spray which is an everyday essential now priced at £1.50.

Staying Covid safe

We remained Covid safe by using the hand sanitiser and this enabled me to reinforce to the children not to pick up litter by hand. My two year old quickly picked up how to use the litter picker and found it great fun trying to pick up rubbish. 

After half an hour we retreated back home with our bin bag full of rubbish to dispose of responsibly and to wash our hands. Olly said he felt really good for doing something positive for the environment and he also commented on how clean the area looked without the litter on the grass and the paths. 

It was also a lovely activity to do with the children in the fresh air after school. It didn’t take up too much of our time and we had some brilliant conversations about the impact of waste on our environment and the local wildlife. 

Pledge to help the Great British September Clean now

Do you litter pick in your local area? Do your children enjoy learning about how we can positively change our environment by being responsible with our rubbish? I really do believe it’s our responsibility to show our children a good example and how important it is to keep our streets clean. Why don’t you take part in the Great British September Clean? It’s a feel good activity for the whole family. Stock up now and buy your products from wilko here.