What a marathon effort! Trafford Council employee Mark Dale took his war on litter to a new level after completing a 26.2 MILE litter pick.
Following the route of the Trafford marathon, he set off from Trafford Town Hall at 6am on Friday, June 11, and picked up litter in Old Trafford, Trafford Park, Sale, Altrincham, Urmston, Stretford before making his way back to the Town Hall 10 hours later.
Environmental Improvement Manager Mark completed the incredible challenge as part of Keep Britain Tidy’s annual Great British Spring Clean campaign.
Trafford Council has supported Keep Britain Tidy over the last few years in their Great British Spring Clean Campaign. Officers and residents have collected hundreds of bags of litter from the streets of Trafford in this time helping to keep our streets and open spaces as litter-free as possible.
Mark, who has won a number of awards for his anti-litter initiatives, said:
"We take part in the Great British Spring Clean campaign every year and in the first week of this year’s campaign we collected 300 bags of rubbish off the streets. But I wanted to do something different as well and that’s when I came up with the Marathon Litter Pick idea.
When I first started out I was concerned that I might not finish – 26 miles is a long way. But as I got further into the litter pick, I realised I was eating up the ground. I’m really pleased to have competed this challenge and I hope that my efforts might inspire those that blight our communities with litter to go that one step more and take their litter to a bin and put it in.
I would like to thank everyone for all their help and support during the Great British Spring Clean in Trafford and the marathon litter pick. It is great to see so many people #LoveTraffordHateLitter. My feet are sore, but it was well worth it - I’m told we managed to collect 39 bags of rubbish on the day and I’m delighted with that. Now, I’m going to have a rest.”
Mark’s progress was documented on the Council’s Let’s Tidy Trafford Together Facebook group and shared to our social media throughout the day. Volunteers, who all adhered to social distancing rules, joined Mark along the way to give him a hand.
Cllr Stephen Adshead, Trafford Council’s Executive Member for Environmental and Regulatory Services, said:
“Well done to Mark for this fantastic effort – he really has done a tremendous job supporting the Great British Spring Clean. Trafford Council is proud of its town centres and communities and we want to ensure they remain as beautiful as possible for future generations to enjoy.”
Nearly 3,000 volunteers have signed up to the Council’s #BeResponsible pledge and have now received a free litter picking kit. Residents, businesses and schools can sign the pledge by searching for The Be Responsible pledge on our website. Work will continue after the Great British Spring Clean finishes with lots more litter initiative planned through our Let’s Tidy Trafford Together initiative.
Posted on Monday 14th June 2021