And the Winners are….

It has taken Helping Hand 2 days to read all the nominations for our competition #SpringClean toolkit. From setting up a Litter Hit squad in school; community groups that are out Litterpicking every weekend; a family out litterpicking  every day – you are our #LitterHero – thank you.

Every nomination has been put into the hat and the following 10 are the lucky winners of a #SpringClean Toolkit – on its way to you before Easter…

1. Maxine & Eliott  – nominated by Julie Riviere
2. Cheetwod Primary – nominated by Emma Green
3. Lee Pelham – nominated by Lee Juney
4. Gorsley Goffs Primary – nominated by Katharine Sharp
5. Barnoldswick Glitterati – nominated by Heather Sheldrick
6. Volunteers of Ferguslie Park – nominated by Darkwood Crew
7. Street Champion Clare Southern – nominated by Rachel Harrison
8. Chailey Litter Pickers – nominated by Janet Caughley – this group has collected over 1,100 bags of litter!
9. Glasgow Kelvin College – nominated by A Markopolous
10. Erskine Community Garden – nominated by Heather Clissett

Can we personally congratulate the 93 nominees for all the outstanding work you do – you are all winners making a difference. Don’t forget to tag & share your stories – and watch this space for new campaigns coming up in 2019.

#BuyBritish #Litterpickers #HelpingHandEnvironmental

Government funding gives Local Authorities a #HelpingHand

The immediate cash boost of £9.75 million will back local authorities efforts in cleaning up high streets and town centres, has come as a welcome boost!

This fund will help English councils to:

• Recognise their #LitterHeroes with litterpicking equipment and community hub kits

• Increase the segregation of litter to improve recycling rates #RecycleontheGo

• Purchase greener innovations to improve productivity around litter collection #PerfectHighStreets

• Support community groups and schools with environmental education tools and resources #LittleLitterHeroes

• Donate funding to support Parish Councils initiatives #PartnershipWorking

• Plan for ‘National High Street Perfect Day’ in Summer 2019.

If you’d like to find out more on how other authorities are applying their funds and to speak to a real person, please give us a call on 01531 635678 or email the green team sales@helpinghand.co.uk and we will call you back.

#PerfectHighStreets #RecycleontheGo #HelpingHandCommunity

UK Government launch £9.75 million fund to clean our high streets

• Every local authority in England guaranteed money to spend on litter clearance equipment and training
• Ahead of ‘National High Street Perfect Day’ later this year, a community-led clean-up to make sure high streets look their best

Councils across England will receive an immediate cash boost from a £9.75 million fund to back their efforts in cleaning up high streets and town centres, Communities Secretary Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP confirmed the funding on 16 March.

This fund is only been made available to English councils in partnership with existing community groups will be able to use this one-off funding to support volunteers. They will be able to buy tools such as litter pickers, gloves and brushes and provide training for residents on how to remove graffiti or tackle fly-tipping, as well as organise events to encourage more families to get involved.

The funding will give local authorities an opportunity to do more, encourage communities to take greater pride in their local area and support campaigns such as Keep Britain Tidy’s Great British Spring Clean Campaign running from 22 March to 23 April and their own local campaigns and BID communities.

Communities Secretary Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP said: “High streets are at the centre of our communities, and as places that are well loved, they sometimes need a bit of a spruce up to look their very best.
That’s why we will be providing councils with £9.75 million to work with community groups who need that extra money to give their local high street a spring clean, making sure their town centres are really spick and span.
Today’s announcement supports commitments in the Government’s Litter Strategy and will also prime councils and communities ahead of the ‘National High Street Perfect Day’, a locally led and funded community clean-up planned for this summer”

The first ever High Street Perfect Day will take place this May in Altrincham, Great Manchester, a winner in the 2018 Great British High Streets awards. High Streets Minister Jake Berry said: “This funding will improve community engagement and give councils an opportunity to do more, with community-led approaches to street clean-ups.
The Great British Spring Clean and the upcoming National High Street Perfect Day are fantastic opportunities for communities to get together in partnership with local businesses and ensure our high streets are places we have even greater pride in.

This is a particularly challenging time for many retailers, confronted by rapidly changing consumer demand and the rise of online spending. Recognising this, the Government has put a plan for the high street at the centre of the Budget and is taking action to ensure local high streets are able to adapt and thrive for generations to come.
Today’s move builds on tough Government action to tackle litter, including doubling the maximum on-the-spot penalty for littering and new powers for councils to crack down on littering from vehicles. The Government has also launched an ambitious ‘Keep it, Bin it’ anti-litter campaign in partnership with environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, supported by some of the biggest names in retail, travel and entertainment, to make littering culturally unacceptable within a generation.

#CleanupyourCommunity
#RecycleontheGo
#PerfectHighStreets

#recycleonthego

Helping Hand Environmental were delighted to be asked to be speakers at Resource Efficiency Wales at the CLAIRE Wales Conference 2018 today.

Our colleagues Carly (HH UK Sales Manager) and Stacey (HH Wales Area Sales Manager) presented the benefits of #recycleonthego and discussed how Welsh Local Authorities are diverting valuable waste away from landfill by segregating litter at street level with our innovative Street Boss and Handicart litter collection carts.

For your free …#recycleonthego case study please contact our sales team on 01531 635678 or email sales@helpinghand.co.uk

Catch our #recycleonthego carts in action – https://vimeo.com/helpinghandco

And also via their own dedicated QR sites – www.streetboss.co.uk and www.handicart.co.uk

#recycleonthego #sustainability #streetboss #handicart

Free toolkit for your local #LitterHero

This month we are giving away 10 autumn tool kits – to nominate your local litter hero, community champion group or eco-school click https://hhenvironmental.co.uk/contact-us enter the details of who you are nominating in the comments box, tick competition entry box and that’s it!

#InItToWinIt– closing date November 30th. 10 winners will be selected at random and announced on December 4th.

Who is your #LitterHero….

We Won – Exporter of the Year

#HerefordMeansBusiness – going from strength to strength, this last 12 months has seen an outstanding growth in our Environmental division sales across Europe.

Our team (Anna & Nicole pictured below) help support government bodies, commercial industry and the voluntary sector in managing the rising tide of plastic waste and general litter on our streets, parks, motorways and oceans. Driving change in sustainability policies and behaviour to litter along with engaging educational programmes for primary and secondary school pupils.

New volunteer engagement campaigns in France, Belgium, Holland and Malta to name but a few! And in support of British manufacturing here in Herefordshire #Teamwork #Partnership #MakingaDifference

Such an honour to have our work recognised at this recent Herefordshire Business Award evening and our congratulations to all other award winners and finalists. Well done to #TeamHH for also achieving finalist status in Eco-Friendly Business of the Year  #proud #buyBritish #litterpickers #teamwork

More award information can be found: https://www.herefordshirebusinessawards.co.uk/

Helping Hand Environmental support 50th Clean Up Hero

Helping Hand Environmental have supported 50 Clean Up Scotland Heroes.

Keep Scotland Beautiful have been delighted to have Helping Hand Environmental support the Hero of the Month award. They kindly donate all the kits given out to litter picking heroes across Scotland.

Since 2013, each month we have celebrated an individual or group who have gone above and beyond with their litter picking efforts. Helping Hand Environmental have supported the Hero of the Month award since 2014.

In April we celebrated our 50th Hero in partnership with them, read the full story here. Altogether we have celebrated heroes in 25 local authorities across Scotland.

Lindsay Richmond, the Community Manager from Helping Hand Environmental commented: “The Helping Hand Company have been privileged to sponsor and support the Hero of the Month award for the last four years and in that time we have helped to reward and recognise over 50 Scottish heroes who have all given up their time to help Keep Scotland Beautiful. This initiative; part of the Clean Up Scotland campaign is a wonderful way to say thank you and nominate individuals of any age – so they get the recognition they deserve as Litter Heroes ”

This year Keep Scotland Beautiful are supporting the Scotland’s Year of Young People by making all our Hero of the Months aged 11-26. Do you have a young hero in mind that we could celebrate? Download our nomination form and email it in to cleanup@keepscotlandbeautiful.org.

Check out all our previous heroes here.

 

The Great Plastic Pick Up launched by Daily Mail

The Daily Mail is proud to announce a national campaign to get Britain picking up plastic litter.

The Great Plastic Pick Up campaign — organised in conjunction with Keep Britain Tidy — has been endorsed by Prime Minister and Sir David Attenborough.

Britain’s streets, beaches and countryside are suffering from a plague of litter. As Sir David has warned, plastic pollution is turning our seas into a ‘toxic soup’ that’s lethal to wildlife in his recent Blue Planet series.

So on Friday, May 11; Saturday, May 12; and Sunday, May 13, the Daily Mail urges readers to take part in The Great Plastic Pick Up, joining their friends, family, colleagues, schools and communities to tackle this blight.

Endorsing The Great Plastic Pick Up, the Prime Minister said: ‘Plastic waste is one of the great environmental scourges of our time, and this will help communities to make a real difference by encouraging everyone to do their bit to pick up litter in their area.’

Now the Mail’s stepping up its war on plastic with The Great Plastic Pick Up — a weekend where we’re helping communities, schools, families and individuals across the UK come together to clear plastic and litter from our beaches, beauty spots and streets. Wherever you live, you can make a difference by sparing just a few hours to pick up plastic bottles, cans and general litter and dispose of it safely. We’re also calling for schools nationwide to do their part.

It’s so simple to sign up — and you could win amazing prizes worth thousands of pounds that could make a huge difference to your community. What’s more, if you are one of the first 3,000 people or schools to join, we’ll send you a special pack of recyclable litter bags to get you started — so act today.

When is it happening?

The Mail’s Great Plastic Pick Up will run from the beginning of Friday, May 11, to the end of Sunday, May 13. It is a weekend when communities across the country will get together in small groups to pick up rubbish — with a specific mission to remove the plastic that poisons our streets, parks and public areas. Of course we’ll be getting rid of other litter, too — giving the whole country a spring clean in time for the Royal Wedding weekend.

Where Do I Sign Up?

Go to www.greatplasticpickup.org where you’ll find all the information you need. You can either sign up to organise a pick-up or join one already going on in your area. You just need to provide your name, address and email.

Anyone can get involved — no matter how old or young (though children should be accompanied by a responsible adult).

You can also choose to pick up litter on your own if you don’t want to join a group.

Need Equipment?

Helping Hand Environmental have a range of dedicated litterpickers, kits and tools to support the campaign. Please contact our team on 01531 635678 and quote SPRINGSAVERS to receive your discount. Our check out our online shop www.HHEnvironmental.co.uk/shop

 

 

Clean Up Britain launch Now or Never Campaign

A ground-breaking and innovative environmental behavioural change community campaign was launched today in Leamington Spa as part of Clean Up Britain’s project

The campaigning group chosen topic – it’s one most people have no clue about with hard hitting imaginary of animals being hurt or killed by litter. Litter is costing us in more ways than one, the time to act is now – 

The 12 month campaign which has its own dedicated website www.ItsNoworNever.org.uk  will be tackling litter head on, and other important, related topics – single use plastics, disposable coffee cups, fly-tipping and local businesses impact on the environment.

Clean Up Britain will be working closely with Warwick Business School Behavioural Science Group, Warwick District Council, community groups and other supporting partners to test out a variety of campaign approaches and nudges to encourage people to do the right thing.

Watch the video for further details… https://vimeo.com/265726238?ref=tw-share

Follow the campaign via the hashtags #litterkills and #cleanupbritain

 

Renfrewshire’s Street Stuff presented with our sponsored Hero of the Month award

Youth project recognised for helping Keep Scotland Beautiful in Year of Young People.

Street Stuff, a Renfrewshire youth initiative, has been presented with the prestigious Clean Up Scotland ‘Hero of the Month’ award in recognition of its efforts to engage young people in improving the litter, graffiti and dog fouling levels in their own communities.

Part of our Clean Up Scotland campaign the award acknowledges Street Stuff’s work to help reduce youth disorder and to instill responsibility in young people.

Street Stuff volunteers and coaching staff from St Mirren FC have assisted Renfrewshire Council with community clean up activities, including removing graffiti from public spaces and spraying dog fouling with paint to make it more visible – highlighting the problem.

Nicola Perrat (16) said: “Street Stuff gives me the opportunity to meet new people and get involved in activities I wouldn’t otherwise have the chance to. It’s fun taking part in Team Up to Clean Up campaign and I enjoy being able to make a difference to the local community.”

Jay Gibson (16) said: “It’s really important that we keep our local environment clean, tidy and free of litter. Taking part in the clean ups and dog fouling initiatives are fun and it’s good knowing you are making a difference.”

Nicola and Jay, along with other young people from Street Stuff joined us and Cllr Cathy McEwan, Convener of Renfrewshire Council’s Infrastructure, Land and Environment Policy Board, Gordon Scott, St Mirren FC Chairman, and Lindsay Richmond-Kearns of Helping Hand Environmental at St Mirren Park to be presented with the award. An image from the presentation can be accessed here.

Gordon Scott, St Mirren FC Chairman, said: “We’re delighted to have been chosen as Keep Scotland Beautiful’s Hero of the Month and it’s testament to the work of the Street Stuff volunteers and staff.

“We’re proud to support the Team Up to Clean Up campaign and will continue to work hard to improve Renfrewshire’s environment for the benefit of the entire community.”

Councillor Cathy McEwan, Convener of Renfrewshire Council’s Infrastructure, Land and Environment Policy Board, said: “We are delighted that Street Stuff have been named as the 50th recipient of the Hero of the Month Award.

“The work volunteers and staff do to engage local children and provide them with activities they may not normally have the opportunity to undertake is fantastic, and has been extremely successful since its inception in 2009.

“They are making a real difference to the local community through participating in litter picks, removing graffiti from shop fronts and supporting the Team Up to Clean Up dog fouling initiative.

“With £2.5million being invested across the next five years, we hope that many local community groups will be able to follow in Street Stuff’s footsteps as we continue to advance the Team Up to Clean Up campaign and make a tangible improvement to the quality of Renfrewshire’s environment.”

Heather McLaughlin, one of our Community Project Officers added: “High levels of graffiti, litter and flytipping are closely linked to community safety. By helping to tackle litter in their local area, Street Stuff, its participants and volunteers have all helped to make their local area both cleaner and safer for all of its residents.

“Keep Scotland Beautiful recognises that there are armies of volunteers all across Scotland working very hard to clean up and green up their local area. Clean Up Scotland can help to support their efforts as well as recognising the contribution made by individuals with our Hero of the Month award.”

Lindsay Richmond-Kearns, Communities Manager at Helping Hand Environmental, which provides a clean up kit to each monthly hero commented: “We are delighted to present Street Stuff with this award. I would like to commend them for successfully improving and delivering significant local environmental improvements in Renfrewshire.

“Helping Hand has been privileged to sponsor the Hero of the Month award in partnership with Keep Scotland Beautiful since 2014, and have rewarded 50 Scottish Heroes to date”

Do you know a local Clean Up hero? Why not nominate them for a Hero of the Month award?