Gosport fitness group takes to the parks to tackle litter problems

Gosport BootCamp UK use Gosport Park each week to run fitness classes.

Now members have taken matters into their own hands to clean up the rubbish that is being strewn across the park.

Owner Dan Turner asked members of the public to join him for a clean-up of the much-used public space on April 18.

Dan was joined not only by members of his own class but by members of the public including the Fareham and Gosport Wombles – a group who are out daily across Gosport and Fareham picking up litter.

StreetScene’s contractors, Urbaser, supported this community effort by providing pickers, bags, and hoops to make it safe for those taking part.

Dan said: ‘The council are supportive of us at BootCamp, they really help so I want to give something back. Streetscene are flat out, on demand, and we use this park every week.

‘There’s lots of people ditching rubbish everywhere, bins are overflowing.’

Alan Wheeler, environmental services manager for Streetscene, says there are no statistics available for how much litter is collected each year because it tends to be mixed with rubbish collected from the public bins however, he did say littering is now concentrated to certain areas since lockdown has been eased.

He said: ‘As a result of Covid, there is more litter picked up by a contractor without a doubt and it's on the beaches, in the parks and the open spaces.’

‘Any local group such as BootCamp, the Wombles, are so important. They do so much good work. Our contractors can’t do it alone. We are very grateful.

‘We just ask, please take your litter home. There are so many incidents where a bin is overflowing, and people leave rubbish next to it. We just don’t have the resources. It’s bad for the environment and those people we do employ, it’s at the taxpayer’s expense.’

BootCamp UK received so much support for their efforts, they are asking people to join them every Sunday at Gosport Park to help.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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