Dear Sir,
A recent report shows that almost 48% of people admit to dropping litter. The amount dropped each year in the UK has increased by 500% since the 1960’s. Cleaning litter from our streets costs the taxpayer around £500 million, not including what it costs to clean parks and other public spaces. Seven out of every ten items of discarded litter are food packaging or wrappers, including drink cartons. We need our local councils to have the wisdom and determination and get others involved with the growing problems of fly-tipping and littering that mar the appearance of our streets, green spaces and roads, which are costly to clean up and damage the environment.
Newton Aycliffe is no exception to the problem of littering and fly-tipping and each week a team of volunteers under the leadership of Councillor Ian Gray, along with one other Councillor, go out each week cleaning up areas of the town.
These volunteers only clean up in areas which are in the ownership of Great Aycliffe Town Council.
Durham County Council don’t help with fly-tipping by charging people to collect and dispose of white goods and other items not everyone can get to the tip, it seems to be easier to fly-tip and allow the volunteers to collect it for free.
These volunteers do excellent work and should be commended for the work they do each week in all weathers.
Vince Crosby