Newbury Rotarians blitz plastic from banks of River Lambourn

Members of Newbury Rotary have their own tales of the riverbank to tell… they’ve given it a clean.

The charitable group joined in the annual Plasticblitz campaign, a team up between the Environment Agency, Rotary and community groups.

The fortnight-long event aims to collect data on plastic pollution in rivers, as well as picking up some of the detritus the groups found.

For their part, on Wednesday, July 3, the Rotarians worked on a stretch of the River Lambourn between The Swan pub on the A4 and the Walton Way Bridge in Shaw.

Eddie Webb, who organised the Newbury team, said that picking up waste might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but the group was determined to play its part and was spurred on by the ‘dogged persistence’ of four-legged honorary member Toby.

They collected several sacks of waste, and were thanked by walkers as they passed by.

A West Berkshire Council crew helped by tidying the area south of Rosemoor Gardens and taking away the Rotarians’ collected rubbish.

“In a small way we have helped to preserve this section of the River Lambourn and its surroundings,” said Mr Webb.

“A large majority of the public do not litter, so we hope that we may have encouraged the remaining littering minority to better appreciate and look after their local environment.”

Mr Webb said that those wanting to organise their own community clean up can contact the council to borrow litter-picking equipment.

For more on plasticblitz, log on to www.thames21.org.uk/connecting-communities/plasticblitz/