Last Saturday Beautify Balham had another great turn out for our monthly litter pick, with about 30 volunteers turning up to clean Balham’s streets.
Donned in their green Beautify Balham hi-vis vests with litter pickers and bags, they took to the streets for an hour.
This time we were part of the Great British Spring Clean 2021 run by Keep Britain Tidy.
We were asked to count the number of bags we used, numbers of plastic items, and estimates of other rubbish so findings could be collated nationwide.
This is the count for Balham from 11am – 12noon on Saturday 5th June:
23 bags containing approximately:
32 x Plastic bottles
47 x Aluminium cans
1000 x Cigarette butts (approx)
60 x Cardboard
36 x Food wrappers
120 x Metal bottle tops
15 x PPE face masks
Other : cable ties, coffee cup lids, paper bags, plastic bags, laughing gas cannisters and unbelievably one lobster (eaten!)
Also, as part of the clean up, some gallant residents of Hildreth Mews, behind the market, gathered up fly-tipping that had accumulated and made an eyesore of an otherwise attractive back street.
BEFORE 
AFTER
The ‘before’ and ‘after’ photos tell the tale and we want to thank all those who helped with this great endeavour.
Our next litter pick will be on: Saturday 26th June as part of our first Balham in Bloom!
Do come and join in the fun at Bedford Hill Place 11am onwards. There will be a planting activity for children run by ‘Think-Outside‘ in the afternoon from 1pm onwards. Look out for our Beautify Balham gazebo!
A presentation of prizes for Balham in Bloom‘s best front garden, window box and hanging basket will take place at 2pm by the Mayor of Wandsworth.
– Jean Millar
