Rotherham councillor voices pride in volunteer litter pickers
“It terrifies me how much the council operates on unpaid overtime and goodwill.”
A councillor in Rotherham has voiced his pride in volunteer litter pickers helping to clean local fields.
Independent councillor Michael Bennett-Sylvester has served the Dalton and Thrybergh ward in Rotherham since 2021.
On Thursday, August 6, he joined volunteers to help clean up fields across from Dalton Parish Hall on Doncaster Road.
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Volunteers were joined by the Don Catchment Rivers Trust and staff from the local McDonald’s.
Councillor Bennett-Sylvester said: “It’s days like today where we’ve got partners, we work together, and get something done because council budgets only go so far.
“It terrifies me how much the council operates on unpaid overtime and goodwill.
“You have to form these partnerships with people like McDonald’s, Don River Catchment Trust. It provides a whole new way of working.”
Cans, bottles, crisp, chocolate and sweet wrappers, as well as glass beer bottles were found by volunteers.
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“The Don River Catchment Trust got involved because the plastics and the rubbish that’s here ends up in [the River Don] at some point. All that plastic is now destined for Don,” the councillor said.
“It’s just the general thing of trying to make it that little bit more pleasant.”
In the three hours, 41 bags of rubbish were picked altogether and three shopping trolleys were pulled from the water.
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The councillor voiced his pride in residents who take on responsibilities to litter pick on their streets each week, and said this helps show the council the need for more bins and waste management.
“We use it to evidence the need for new bins. For individual pickers, some keep track of the number of bags of rubbish they get,” he said.
“We can go to the council and say ‘look we’ve got somebody who is picking three bags of litter off this street every week’, and they’ll take that as evidence to go towards money available for a bin.
“It’s a big thing for people knowing that if you see a clear bag of rubbish, a volunteer has done it, not just somebody who had gone and put the contents of their bin out.”
Sam Barstow, service director for community safety at Rotherham Council, said: “We’re incredibly grateful to the many volunteers who give up their time to help keep their communities clean and litter-free. They make a real difference and complement the work carried out by our teams across the borough.
“We know that residents take pride in their local areas and want to get involved, which is why our Libraries provide community groups with litter picking equipment that is free to use.”