McDonald’s and a local litter picking group joined forces today for a 2 hour clean up. The event reported 5 fly tips, collected over 50 bags with over 30 volunteers.
The event started at McDonald’s and four groups split off on planned routes.
It saw volunteers join McDonalds staff tackle hot litter spots in the area. They were also joined by Louise Baxter from Harrow’s BID team and Sarah Butterworth, a councillor for Harrow on the Hill.
Thom Russell, the Operations Manager for McDonalds said: “It was a fantastic turn out from everyone, a huge thank you to Jatin the Business Manager of our South Harrow restaurant who organised the event, Harrow council for helping to collect the litter we picked up, and for supplying the bin bags.
“It was great to see other businesses such as Tesco get involved. The local litter picking group has over 200 members and is growing, these guys are the real hero’s. They are out everyday come rain or shine. Next year we have committed to holding 12 larger events across our restaurants.
“We do need to get more support and other businesses involved. I will be writing to these in the new year to see how we can all work together to make this wonderful area we all trade in litter free.
“Everyone needs to take more accountability for the litter they produce. We picked up hundreds of petrol gloves today so I will be keen to see what support we can get from Waitrose and the Shell garage in South Harrow to help tackle these issues.
“We need to work closer with the council on where we can have more bins installed, the gardening teams to look at how we can better manage bushes to avoid them trapping litter and also landlords to see how they can support their tenants better dispose of waste.”
Thom added: “The local litter picking group have lots of fantastic ideas and we are keen to work alongside them to try and best support the improvements we have seen.
“We did write to some of the local schools however not all responded, next year we will look to engage with these more, it’s important that we look at eduction to also try and help reduce litter.
“In 2022 we have some big plans including a 24 hour litter event. “I’m super passionate about making a difference and would love to hear from local residents on anything they would like support with. My email address is Thom.russell@uk.mcd.com”
McDonald’s also wanted to thank all the volunteers: Cllr Sarah Butterworth, Casey, Elsa, David, Susan, Jo, Colette, and Rashmi.
If anyone wants to join the Harrow Litter Pickers group, the link is below –
www.facebook.com/groups/harrowlitterpickers/?ref=share
