1,600 bags of litter collected from the banks of South Yorkshire river

The Don Catchment Rivers Trust (DCRT) meet twice a week to improve the riverside footpaths and green spaces in Sheffield, Rotherham and Doncaster and last year the dedicated group collected a total of 1,647 bin bags of littered waste found in and around the River Don.

Sally Hyslop, community engagement officer for the trust's Living Heritage of the River Don project, said: "Our regular volunteers are real heroes who spend hours litter-picking with us each week, but the amount of litter we collect doesn't seem to be decreasing.

"People need to be encouraged to take one-use plastics home to recycle, or even better encouraged to carry re-usable bottles and reduce the amount of plastic they purchase."

The trust hold regular litter picks across the county. For more information or if you would like to volunteer visit www.dcrt.org.uk.

The Star called on readers to help clean up our city last month as part of Sheffield Litter Pickers' efforts in the Keep Britain Tidy Great British Spring Clean event in March.

It will be held on Firth Park Road on Saturday, March 3 - and the organisers have now confirmed the meeting place for volunteers.

People are asked to meet at the Clocktower Pavilion, S5 6WS at 1pm and the group has 100 litter grabbers which will be provided to those who need them.

Anyone who is interested in joining the group or getting involved in the event should search Sheffield Litter Pickers on Facebook.