A mattress and 500 dogends fished out of Grantham river

Joining Grantham Rivercare on their 88th clean up of the River Witham and it’s banks were 26 volunteers from around the town.

Regulars welcomed some new faces no doubt alarmed by recent news coverage of the state of our rivers, seas and oceans.

They were pleasantly surprised that our area was a lot clearer than normal. Perhaps the #waronplastic is slowly seeping into the public consciousness. Let’s hope so!

However, despite this fledgling optimism, they still filled seven bags, two of which were full of recyclable materials. SKDC is now helping by sending these to recycling rather than before when we combined them with general waste.

The roll call of unusual items this time included an event fencing panel, scaffold pole, roadworks sign, child’s scooter, the ubiquitous shopping trolley and parts of a vacuum cleaner (perhaps some misguided soul felt this would help clean up the river?). A total of 100kg was collected.

A new system was introduced this month, collecting the numerous cigarette ends that we also encounter separately. We estimate around 500 were found on the banks and paths along the river. These will be sent for recycling as they contain micro-plastics that, if left, will end up in the river and eventually the seas.

Well earned refreshments and cake followed. Additionally, Alma Park Fish Bar have kindly donated a cone of chips to all volunteers today as well as helping out themselves.

In addition to the regular clean ups, RiverCare volunteers are often called out to remove other items. Recently we have removed the following – a double mattress, wheelie bin (full of bricks) and a further three shopping trollies.

Make a note in your diary for our 89th clean up on Saturday 20th July. Meet at the boating lake in Wyndham Park at 9.30am. Hope to see you there. For more information search ‘RiverCare Grantham’ on Facebook!

RiverCare BeachCare (East Anglia) is a Keep Britain Tidy project funded by Anglian Water. Currently supporting 50 local community groups to litter pick, undertake citizen science projects and act as guardians of their local watercourse or beach.