About Us

For years now, I’ve felt my spirits sink while travelling around what William Blake once so simply, and accurately, called England’s Green and Pleasant Land. The reason for my despondency? The ever proliferating eyesores caused by litter strewn along roadsides, in hedges, across pavements, around parks…in fact now almost everywhere. Where once I would have marvelled at nature’s beauty, as my gaze meandered across the near and distant horizon, now my eye is tugged towards the can, the bottle, the crisp packet and (that emblem of modern Britain), the plastic bag snagged in the roadside tree.

There’s only one way this rubbish has got there. It’s been casually discarded by people too lazy to find a bin or take it home, or, worse still for what it says about human nature, slung out of a deliberately lowered car window.

I’m not alone, of course in my irritation. In the last year or two, I’ve heard a growing chorus of complaint, from people voicing a mixture of disgust and despair, while vainly exhorting ‘the authorities’ to do more to clear the litter and catch and punish the offenders.

Some hope!

The sad fact--staring us in the face on a daily basis--is that it’s getting worse, and no amount of campaigning and complaining is going to make any difference.

So, we should bin that approach (no pun intended), and adopt a different solution. It is this. We, the people who notice the litter and care about what it’s doing to our country, should start clearing it up ourselves. And, with this website as a vehicle, we can do it together, and draw encouragement from each other. As entries on the 'Littter You Have Cleared' page grow in number, we'll see the scale of collective achievement, and feel the sense of common purpose. In the Forum, you can talk to people in your part of the country and collaborate on tackling some of the worst eyesores. 

If you’ve read this far and are still with me in spirit, you’ll surely know of several places near you where litter accumulates and is never cleared. All you have to do, when you’re next passing with a few minutes to spare, is fill up a bag or two (the photos above show ten minutes of my work on the A1 north of London) and dispose of it in whichever public-spirited way you choose. It’ll be a satisfying and therapeutic experience. Then, register with this site, report what you’ve done  and savour the experience of being part of a team that can make a difference.

Steve McCormack, Founder of People Clearing Litter.