Coventry's new Clean Up Hub encouraging local litter picking
Destination Ball Hill have opened their new Clean Up Hub which is providing the community with litter picking equipment
A community campaign group in Coventry are on a mission to make litter picking more accessible after concerns that littering is on the rise in the city.
Destination Ball Hill (DBH) is a community group formed of local residents and businesses committed to making the area a safe and clean place to live and work.
Since forming in 2022, Destination Ball Hill has made strong partnerships which include the city council, local councillors, schools, faith groups, and other local residents’ groups.
DBH run monthly litter picking sessions in the community alongside other work to engage members of the public to join their campaign.
The community group has recently opened their new Clean Up Hub which aims to make litter picking more accessible as people can now go to the centre and borrow litter picking equipment.
We've been speaking with local DBH campaigner, Neil Rider, who says the new hub will help to tackle the rising concern of littering in the community and the wider area of Coventry.
Neil said: "The idea is that as well as our regular structured ‘litter picks’ individuals and groups can do their own litter pick when and for as long as they choose.
"Not everyone can come at the same time, and we know that the more accessible and regular this activity is the more people we can engage."
"We're very keen to talk with people in the community so we can share our knowledge of litter picking between one another.
"It's very important that we work collaboratively as a community to tackle the problem of littering."
Neil continued to share how positive the feedback has been so far about the new community Clean Up Hub.
Neil said: "People are telling us that they have seen such an improvement in the area because of the work we're doing alongside our ability to engage with the council on this issue."
"Whilst our work is making a big change, the problem of littering is still severe and we need more help to make a big change.
"The Clean Up Hub has marked a fantastic milestone in our mission to tackle littering in Coventry."
DBH are also continuing their work to get drains unblocked alongside, negotiating with the council to restrict the commercial bins on the street which attract some of the fly tipping in the area and securing on street cameras to deter fly tipping in ‘hot spots’.