An all-night, 22-mile June solstice litter-pick along the Cotswold Way saw 2,000 pieces of rubbish bagged up, writes Sue Fenton.
The haul included knickers, faeces, sanitary towels, fast food packaging, 129 bags of dog poo and over 950 pieces of plastic.
The event raised £1,000 towards organiser Cllr Gill Thomas’s campaign to buy litter-pickers, books and reading sessions for local schools. The donations from members of the public in the day or so before the event will be added to nearly £2,000 previously raised for the Litter-Picker project.
This scheme aims to raise £10,000 to buy more than 1,400 litter picking sticks for 45 local schools.
Gill’s solstice walk team started at sunset at Painswick Beacon and finished at Wotton-under-Edge. The route should have been 22 miles but her team ended up walking 26 miles (the distance of a marathon) because of frequent diversions to pick up rubbish.
The volume of litter also meant the walk took 14 hours, three hours longer than expected. The group eventually got to Wotton at 11.30am, where they were greeted by Cllr Catherine Braun, district councillor for Wotton.
Gill was joined by Mel Bonner, Paul Thomson, Tomo Sands and Rob Lewis from guided walking company Cotswold Trails – and, for the last section of the walk, by fellow litter campaigner Eric Torrington of Litter Free.
Gill, who is the Green district councillor for Minchinhampton and is Stroud District Council’s Champion for Litter and Clean Environment, said she was shocked to have found so much litter.
“It’s appalling that litter is so rife in such a beautiful, rural area, on one of the country’s best known long-distance walking routes – especially given that the Cotswolds Way is about 92% off-road, largely through fields and woodlands.
“We didn’t pass a single coffee shop, supermarket or fast-food outlet and yet we found thousands of littered items from big brands,” said Gill, who believes that such rubbish is brought to the countryside from urban areas then thrown out of moving vehicles.
“There’s only one reason why litter ends up in the countryside – we put it there, and we need to stop,” said Gill. “When our grasslands, woodlands, commons, rolling hills and fields – which are home to many rare and endangered species – are used as a dustbin, or worse still, a toilet, the beauty of these areas is spoiled, both for us and for the wildlife.
“The disrespectful and selfish behaviour of a few people spoils the countryside for so many others. It makes me very sad but angry too, and more determined to push for change.”
Gill said the event gave her insight into where the litter hot spots are along that part of the Cotswolds Way, which she’ll be feeding back to Stroud District Council. Notably, Haresfield Hill was a “horrible grot spot”, with a salt bin overflowing with rubbish, and Coaley Peak was “grim”, with rubbish strewn across the car park. At Penn Wood there were “vast amounts” of soiled toilet paper scattered across the woodland floor. Cam Long, on the other hand, was mostly free of litter.
On the whole, Gill found the event “hugely rewarding”. “It was a unique experience. Walking through the night was both exciting and terrifying. The ascents were hard, and the descents over rocky, uneven ground, were fairly treacherous. The woods were dark and alive with the sounds of forest creatures! The open fields offered large, dark, starlit skies and silhouetted trees and we saw a beautiful sunrise on Selsley Common.”
For more information about Gill’s campaign, or to donate:
www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/litterpickersforlittlepickers
