Ramsgate Litter Forum - January 2020

The Litter Forum is an initiative led by Ramsgate Town Team that brings together over twenty local voluntary groups with Thanet District Council and Ramsgate Town Council to work together to improve the state of our streets.

In 2019, the Forum co-ordinated the Great Ramsgate Spring Clean in March & April as part of Keep Britain Tidy's Great British Spring Clean. Nationally, Keep Britain Tidy recorded a record-breaking 17,000 clean-ups involving over 500,000 people - a phenomenal achievement!

In Ramsgate, we're delighted to have organised between us more than twenty-five clean-ups involving over 300 volunteers and over 750 volunteer hours, tackling 'grotspots' like alleyways, car parks and waste land, as well as tidying and cleaning the full length of Ramsgate seafront.

As a result of the Spring Clean, the Ramsgate Litter Pickers group was formed, whose members meet to do occasional clean-ups (visit their Facebook page for details), litter-picking equipment bought for the Spring Clean was lent long-term to local groups, and colourful signs were purchased to show that an area has been cleaned by volunteers, asking visitors to take their litter home.

This year, the Litter Forum will be co-ordinating the Spring Clean in Ramsgate again between March 20 and April 13, 2020 as part of Keep Britain Tidy's national event (visit www.keepbritaintidy.org/get-involved/support-our-campaigns/great-british-spring-clean to find out more). If you want to get involved, as a community group, on behalf of a company, shop, pub or school, or simply as an individual, visit the Great Ramsgate Spring Clean Facebook page to express your interest, or contact us via email at info@ramsgatetownteam.org.uk. To see the events within Ramsgate visit the Great Ramsgate Spring Clean Facebook page.

Written by:
Tricia Austin,
Chair of the Ramsgate Litter Forum