A clarion call has gone out to the public and community litter pick volunteers to rally together for the 2021 Great Cumbrian Litter Pick, co-ordinated by conservation charity Friends of the Lake District.

The county-wide litter pick takes place this year on Friday 21^st and Saturday 22^nd May and is an opportunity not only to clear up our county but spread the message ahead of the busy tourist season that everyone who visits should take their litter home with them and leave no trace.

Forty litter picks took place across Cumbria as part of the Great Cumbrian Litter Pick last year, and with 40 litter picks registered already, the Great Cumbrian Litter Pick 2021 looks set to outdo last year.

Photo: Lakes Plastic Collective

Ruth Kirk, Friends organiser of the event said: “We need people who visit, and live in, the Lake District and Cumbria to know that in the majority of countryside locations, no-one is paid to pick up the litter that people carelessly discard. There is an army of selfless volunteers among our communities who tidy up after others day in, day out from the goodness of their hearts. But they shouldn’t have to. Many of them are joining forces for The Great Cumbrian Litter Pick and we want to say a huge thank you to them and highlight their efforts, but also to ask people – please - to stop littering these spectacular, fragile landscapes.”

Friends of the Lake District has also commissioned a research study from Keep Britain Tidy, the results of which will be available to coincide with The Great Cumbrian Litter Pick taking place.

Kate Willshaw, Policy Officer for Friends said: “Simply clearing up after people is not a long term or sustainable solution to anti-social littering behaviour. We can all make assumptions about why people litter, but actually asking people questions via focus groups and online surveys enables us not only to find out why people leave litter but more importantly, to recommend and develop messages and interventions we can put in place to change behaviours to protect the beautiful landscapes of the Lake District.”

Anyone can take part in The Great Cumbrian Litter Pick either by registering their own community or individual litter pick, or by joining one of the many organised picks around the Lake District.

For more information and to register see: https://www.friendsofthelakedistrict.org.uk/litter-cumbria, and www.thegreatcumbrianlitterpick.org.uk