A local volunteer has been honoured with the Extraordinary Achievement Award at the 2024 Harrow’s Heroes ceremony for her exceptional efforts in tackling litter and improving the local environment.
Casey Dalton, who has lived in Harrow for over 23 years, leads the Harrow Litter Pickers group. Her passion for cleaning up the borough’s streets and her ability to rally others behind the cause have been instrumental in the group’s success.
Harrow Online had the opportunity to speak to Casey, find out about her work, and what the award victory means to her.
1. How did it feel to win the Extraordinary Achievement Award at Harrow’s Heroes?
“Obviously I was highly honoured to be nominated, let alone to have won! However it should not be about me, it really was about a whole group of people combining to do the right thing. We have a huge team of committed people from all walks of life, each bringing different talents to the work. Their common goal is simply to help make things better for everyone.
“It’s the kind of mission that attracts people who want to do something positive, not sit back and despair, but get up and do something. So yes, proud to have won such an award, but prouder still of the team I help represent.”
2. What inspired you to take the first step in cleaning your street and forming the Harrow Litter Pickers group?
“I’m not sure there was ever any single, conscious decision. I’ve always found litter and fly-tipping inexcusable, not just from the point of view of picking it up, but trying to understand the people who do this in the first place. Simply trying to keep my own road clear, it quickly became obvious that nobody wants to live in a littered and dirty environment, and some people were actually prepared to help.
“After a while I realised there was a small group of people who wanted to do something about it, and Facebook seemed the logical way to keep in touch in forming a loose kind of group to arrange picking events. One thing led to another, and the group simply kept on growing. There are similar organisations in Hillingdon and Ealing with even greater numbers, although they’ve been going for a bit longer.”
3. With so many members now, what do you think has been the key to the group’s success and growth?
“We now have well over 1000 members. The group really has grown at a surprising rate, especially after our major “Ward” events – although we still haven’t covered the entire Borough. Litter picking is fun, great exercise and connects to the outdoors. I think quite simply, it’s that people don’t want to let their friends down. There are always members who need a hand clearing rubbish from their local patch, and setting up an event on our Facebook page seems to work very well in getting people to help. Sometimes just a few turn up at first, but the more our members get to know each other, the stronger the wish to help each other out. Having a simple but effective means of communication has really helped things grow.
“We have been well supported by Harrow Council who fund litter grabbers and volunteer bags for new group members. We meet regularly which helps us to feedback issues we come across during litter picking.
“We work with local businesses, schools, community groups and the police; running targeted events in problem areas. We find lots of interesting and bizarre things. Occasionally we come across weapons, and over the past few years we have removed 51 knives and several firearms from Harrow’s streets. But this is unusual, most of what we collect is fast food packaging and bottles and cans. We also find lots of clothing including an astonishing amount of underpants… usually several pairs a week!
“As a group we currently collect 1000–1500 bags of rubbish per month, equating to approximately 10-15 skip loads.”
4. How has the local community responded to the impact your group has made on the neighbourhood?
“I’m not sure the community in general knows a lot yet about what we do. Yes, we get a lot of people who stop and thank us, and some even get involved and join the group, but we understand most people don’t have much time in their lives. It doesn’t take much to encourage others though, and if people simply clear up outside their homes, and maybe a couple of neighbours’ homes, word soon spreads. Getting engaged with the community is key to the kind of work we do – finding out why they have problems disposing of rubbish and trying to help them dispose in the right way.
“It’s surprising how many don’t have sufficient space in their bins for example (or even have sufficient bins for rubbish), and very few people know about the free Council bulky waste scheme.”
5. What’s your next goal for the Harrow Litter Pickers and your community efforts?
“It’s ongoing work – people get involved in a variety of ways, lots of people look after their street whilst others set up larger group events. We’re conscious that we don’t yet have representatives throughout the Borough, and are keen to recruit new members where we don’t have many – mostly to the North and East of the Borough as most of our work’s expanded from the South Harrow area.
“We also want to build in some kind of continuity, possibly asking some of our volunteers to link in with Police and Council Teams to see if we can work more in partnership. We already do this to some extent, but can’t yet cover every Ward in the Borough. We’re also planning something for the Great British Spring Clean in 2025, but that’s work in progress at the moment!”
To find out more about Casey’s work, or to join the group – click here.
Chris Mitchell is the founder and editor of Harrow Online, Harrow’s leading local news platform.
He launched Harrow Online in 2010 as a Facebook page sharing local news and information. Since then, it has grown into a trusted source for breaking news, crime, council decisions, planning, transport, business and community stories across the borough.
Harrow Online reaches hundreds of thousands of readers each month and has a social media audience of more than 200,000 followers.
For news tips, press releases or enquiries, contact Chris at info@harrowonline.org.
