Litter can be harmful to wildlife, negatively impact the beauty and enjoyment of the natural environment, and is a problem that we should be able to tackle easily together.
There’s a growing number of people in and around the South Downs who feel passionately about reducing litter, and who are willing to give up their time and/or money to help.
A virtuous circle of litter-picking
“Clean-Up South Downs Together” is a one-year pilot scheme designed to deliver targeted, high-impact litter collection across the South Downs National Park.
The initiative will be overseen by the South Downs National Park Trust, with support from the South Downs National Park Authority, and delivered through a combination of local litter-picking volunteers, community-led fundraising, and existing council-contracted litter-picking providers.
In summary, local volunteers’ efforts (sometimes supported by local contractors) will be sponsored by donors, which will lead to “matched work” by contractors who will be paid for through the funds raised.
By creating “a virtuous circle of litter-picking”, the initiative aims to establish a scalable model for keeping the South Downs cleaner, greener, and more welcoming for all.
The initiative will be piloted in three carefully chosen districts across Hampshire, West Sussex, and East Sussex – targeting high-footfall areas of natural beauty within the South Downs National Park.
Volunteer litter picking will unlock sponsorship funds for a lot more litter-picking
An initial fundraising target of £15,000 has now been met to launch the project.
Generous donors have given this money on the understanding that volunteers in each district will complete at least an hour’s litter-picking per week over the course of the year.
For every hour of volunteer litter-picking in each district, this sponsorship will unlock an additional three hours of paid professional litter-picking by existing contractors in that district – work that will focus on litter hotspots informed by local volunteers and South Downs National Park Rangers. The scheme therefore provides “matched-work x 3”.
- Piloted in three carefully chosen areas in the National Park
- Existing volunteers will litter pick in these areas for at least one hour a week
- This action then unlocks three hours of litter picking by paid contractors in the same area.
How you can help – Microvolunteering!
This intiative can’t hope to solve the litter problem overnight.
However, if many of us regularly do a tiny bit of litter-picking in our local areas, such that together we have volunteered for at least an hour a week, we will unlock significant extra funding to triple the amount of time and resource spent keeping our neighbourhoods clean and tidy.
If you are already litter-picking on a regular basis, a huge THANK YOU!
To give our sponsors a sense of the great work you are doing, we would be grateful if you could complete this simple form, telling us where you litter-pick, how often you do so and whether are part of a group. If you could also send us a photo of yourself in action, ideally with any bags of rubbish you may have collected, that would be wonderful!
We look forward to hearing from you.
Clean-Up South Downs Together is a collaboration between the South Downs Trust, South Downs National Park Authority, idverde, Glendale, the Litter Partnership, a few generous donors and many volunteers who wish to do their bit to help look after the glorious South Downs.
