Bolton litter pickers fight back against fly tipping and uncleanliness

Areas ranging from Farnworth and Kearsley to Haslam Park have been part of clean-up efforts by residents.

The Litter Pickers of North Bolton have been a key part of these efforts. Run by Eileen Mckay Crowe, 56, from Egerton, this group started out picking just North Bolton, but have continued to pick all over the area.

Eileen is the local ambassador for Keep Britain Tidy, a UK based environmental charity which campaigns to eliminate litter, end waste and improve places.

The litter picking group pledged to collect 750 bags of litter for Keep Britain Tidy as part of their Great British Spring Clean initiative, which aims to clear as much litter as possible this month.

A clean subway at the Kearsley roundabout

Eileen told The Bolton News, however, that the group hit their target ahead of time: “We pledged to collect 750 bags, we reached it on Sunday, April 3, collecting two bags at Haslam Park.

“We think we’ll probably hit 1000 bags by the end, with help from our friends at The Litter Pickers of Astley Bridge.”

The Litter Pickers of North Bolton predominantly focus on street litter but do come across larger examples of fly tipping.

“We’ve come across fridges and washing machines. We’ve had to pull cookers and tractor tyres out of streams.”

Daffodils planted by Farnworth and Kearsley Litter Pickers.

These aren’t the only litter picking groups in Bolton though. Farnworth and Kearsley Litter Pickers have also been working hard to clean the streets.

The Kearsley roundabout off the A666 was the target of their efforts recently, a place which they’ve tackled in the past when they found bottles of wee amongst other rubbish.

This time wasn’t quite so grim, but there was still a lot to do, as Sylvia Crossley, 61, from Stoneclough, told the Bolton News:

“There was a lot of dirt that comes from cars, a large build-up of old leaves that get left behind.”

“We get up early when there’s no cars about so we can sweep the slip roads. We also swept the subways and grass verges, which resulted in 19 bin bags’ worth.”

The results of the litter pick at Kearsley roundabout.

Sylvia believes not just in cleaning the areas back to how they were, but improving how places look, such as planting daffodils in grass verges:

“You’ll see the daffodils in the photos, that was done by the community.”

If you’d like to support these litter picking groups, you can message them on their Facebook pages – ‘The Litter Pickers of North Bolton’ and ‘Farnworth and Kearsley Litter Pickers.’