Watford still has time to get involved in a one-million-mile mission happening right now across the country to clean up our green spaces.

Watford Borough Council and its waste collection contractor Veolia UK are supporting Keep Britain Tidy’s target for the Great British Spring Clean - a million-mile litter pick around the UK.

Keep Britain Tidy based its million-mile goal on the idea that it takes the average person 20 minutes to walk a mile while picking up litter.

Reaching a million miles can be achieved if just 250,000 people collect refuse for an hour and 20 minutes.

Hillingdon Times: Keep Britain Tidy posterKeep Britain Tidy poster

Taking place between May 28 – June 13, the council and Veolia are calling on individuals, schools, community groups, businesses and scout groups to pledge to litter pick and help contribute to the #MillionMileMission.

Veolia Watford’s senior contract manager Darren Harding said: “It’s time to show some love for those special places that helped us through lockdown and help Keep Britain Tidy achieve a million miles of litter-picking.”

Last year Veolia supported over 70 Watford residents, scouts, councillors, faith groups and community groups with litter pick kits and bag collections to help clean up different areas of town.

Elected Mayor of Watford Peter Taylor said: “Our green spaces have become more valuable to us than ever before and making sure they remain clean and green is really important - hedgehogs, deer, badgers, foxes and many other creatures also rely on these spaces too.

"The smallest things like ring pulls, bottle tops and discarded plastic and cans can be fatal to them.

“Please join us in this brilliant national campaign that not only benefits our local environment but all the creatures we share it with too.”

As part of its commitment to making Watford a greener, cleaner borough, Veolia will loan litter pickers any time of the year to groups and supply free rubbish and recycling bags for plastic bottles and cans only.

Of those who took part in the Great British Spring Clean 2020, many reported positive mental health benefits, 89 per cent agreed that they enjoyed volunteering in GBSC 2020 and felt that they made a difference in their local area and 79 per cent agreed that taking part helped improve their mood.

A further 44 per cent agreed the campaign helped them feel less anxious about what is happening in the world right now and 43 per cent said it helped them feel less isolated.

Groups that would like support from the council and Veolia for a litter pick can email: enquiries.watford@veolia.co.uk.