Litter-picking councillor Gill Thomas launched on Saturday a campaign to provide every primary school in Stroud District with their own stock of litter-picking sticks, writes Susan Fenton.
The ‘Litter Pickers for Little Pickers’ campaign will give all primary-aged children access to sticks so that they can play a part in keeping the areas around their schools tidy.
Gill, who is Stroud District Council’s Litter Champion, has already been in touch with more than half of the district’s 60 primary schools and almost all of those have asked to take part in the scheme, with requests for 1,100 litter sticks so far. She expects demand to rise as more schools hear about the project.
The scheme was launched at the Water for Wellbeing evening organised by Amy Morris from Stroud Waters at Court Farm, King Stanley, which provided an update and discussion on the proposals for the new outdoor natural swimming area, which has recently been successful in its crowdfunding campaign.
Gill is now aiming to raise the money to buy the sticks, which cost about £6 each. Gill, one of the Green councillors for Minchinhampton, has to raise an estimated £10,000 and plans to take part in a variety of fundraising challenges over the coming year, including a 21km swim along the canal from Saul Junction to Sapperton Tunnel. Other challenges include a 176km trash trail bike ride around the District boundary, a longest day of the year 26.2 mile marathon litter pick night walk, running and litter picking the Stroud Half Marathon, (repeating her achievement in 2024) and an ‘ice walk’ over broken glass bottles collected as litter from the streets of Stroud.
She said: “Schools are really enthusiastic about this. Some already have litter pickers for their children to use, but this project will make picking up litter even more accessible. The schools I’ve contacted so far have asked for anything from 10 to 100 sticks each.”
Gill added: “It’s about nurturing a sense of responsibility from an early age in the hope that young people will carry positive litter habits into adulthood and we’ll start to see a reverse in attitudes to dropping litter.”
The money raised will also help to buy books about litter and the environment, and pay for reading sessions in schools through the Gloucestershire-based charities Read with Me and Read for Good.
Donations can be made to Gill’s campaign at www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/litterpickersforlittlepickers
