Submitted by Peter Lumb on Wed, 2019-08-21 13:55
Hardly a week goes by without a new global environmental crisis making the headlines. Whether it’s recycling scandals, species losses or pollution events, these big stories increasingly draw our attention to global environmental challenges. However this can sometimes make it easy to easy to ignore environmental impacts closer to home, particularly those which are ‘litter’-ally right on our doorstep.
An age-old problem, litter is not just unsightly, but also presents a danger to wildlife, has the potential to make its way into watercourses and the sea, and means that potentially valuable materials are lost from our recycling and recovery infrastructure. Cambridge Assessment, a non-teaching department of the University of Cambridge, is one place ‘littered’ with staff who want to consider their environmental performance. The green group recently won the department its first ever Green Impact award in 2018/19. One of Cambridge Assessment’s latest efforts is focused on the local area around their new ‘Triangle’ building near the Cambridge Station. Known as the ‘Litterati’, the department’s litter-picking group held their first ever event in late Spring. Across five days, nine groups of litter pickers from across Cambridge Assessment and Cambridge University Press gave up some of their time to walk a route around parts of Cambridge and collect litter. Armed with litter grabbers and bags from Cambridge City Council, they covered a large area of Cambridge ranging from Shaftesbury Avenue on the Triangle doorstep, through to Mill Road, Coleridge Recreation Ground and the Cambridge Leisure Park. Over the course of the week colleagues collected over twenty full bags of rubbish!
According to Keith Stiven, one of the group’s members, “It was a lovely experience getting to have a walk and get some fresh air whilst doing something positive for the community – we even received some compliments from members of the public who were surprised to see members of Cambridge Assessment out and about in the community. The weather held out for all but one of the groups (apologies to them!), and feedback from those who came along was really positive”. The group are already looking forward to the next week of litter picking, as the ‘Litterati’ are aiming to hold litter picks every few months. Well done to all of those involved!
If you’re looking at holding your own litter picking session, September will see two relevant events for your calendar. World Cleanup Day will take place on 21 September, and the Marine Conservation Society’s ‘Great British Beach Clean’ takes place from 20-23 September.
See below for some pictures from Cambridge Assessment's litter pick:
