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Hilary Benn tackles litter in Trafford tidy up

News release

Ref: 220/09
Date: 24 September 2009

Environment Secretary Hilary Benn today kicked off the Big Tidy Up event involving children from the Seymour Park Community Primary School in Seymour Park, Trafford as part of his regional visit to the North West. The Trafford area of Manchester has recently signed up as a new Big Tidy Up Champion with Keep Britain Tidy, a programme that is funded by Defra. Mr Benn also visited another clean-up taking place in Old Trafford which has been organised by the Asian Ladies Network.

The Big Tidy Up was launched by Keep Britain Tidy last September and since then thousands of people have taken part, helping to clear more than 50,000 bags of litter from our streets. As part of the one year on celebrations, the Big Tidy Up has taken to the road on a 50 day national tour across England to encourage people to get involved and help make their neighbourhood a better place to live.

Hilary Benn said:

“I am delighted to be invited to see this Big Tidy Up event in action at Trafford - one of the newest national champions. It is great to see the local school and community groups playing their part to keep this a cleaner and greener borough. Litter is everyone’s responsibility and these events will get the message out there and help the campaign reach its target of collecting 500,000 bags of litter across England and I hope Trafford can lead the way to achieve this goal”.

Phil Barton, Keep Britain Tidy Chief Executive said:

'It is fantastic that the Secretary of State can come to a Big Tidy Up and see how committed people are to tackling the litter problem in this country.

"The Big Tidy Up aims to collect 500,000 bags of litter in the long term, and this goal is shared by councils such as Trafford who are leading supporters of the campaign, and an example of how to inspire their residents to create cleaner, greener communities."

As part of his one day visit to the North West, Mr Benn started the day by taking a tour around the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority (GMWDA), a waste disposal site that is currently being redeveloped.  He also visited Tattondale Farm in Cheshire to launch Defra’s Safeguarding our Soils publication that sets out how the government plans to halt and reverse the degradation of England’s soil over the next 20 years, working with farmers and other land managers, developers, planners and construction companies to manage soil sustainably. Mr Benn also made a trip to see a climate change project in its early stages at the University of Manchester and spoke to students involved in the project.

Notes to editors

  1. The Big Tidy Up tour kicked off at the Trafford Centre early September, and will continue until October with stops at Bootle, Warrington, Liverpool, Wigan, Manchester, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Gateshead and Newcastle. Local authorities that are passionate supporters of the campaign have committed to host at least 15 tidy ups in their area. Advertising will be appearing in each of the champion areas, in the form of bus shelter adverts, phone boxes and billboards, to encourage local people to tidy up their community.

  2. Safeguarding our Soil can be found at: www.defra.gov.uk/environment/quality/land/soil/

  3. More details on the recent announcement on the future of food in Britain can be found at www.defra.gov.uk/news/2009/090810a.htm .

  4. Soil policy is devolved, with Defra liaising closely with the Scottish Government, Welsh Assembly, and Northern Ireland Government on their respective policies.

  5. Soils are the second largest store of carbon after the oceans. The UK’s soils contain 10billion tonnes of carbon, the equivalent of 57 times the annual UK Green House Gas emissions.  More than 50 per cent of the carbon stores are in Britain’s peat bogs, many of which are already protected areas.  Defra is currently working with the horticulture industry on how to cut peat use by the horticulture industry.

  6. Eighty per cent of the land in England is managed by farmers, foresters and other land managers.

     

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Page published: 24 September 2009