Headingley residents tackle cold weather for the last litter clean-up of 2015.

 

IT has been just over a month since Headingley Litterarti had its first successful session in cleaning the streets of Headingley.

We saw a group of local residents wandering the streets of Headingley Mount and Headingley Avenue picking up the litter that they found and sorting them into the appropriate bags, ready to be collected by the Council.

Despite the December chill, yesterday was the second but also last clean-up of 2015 with the volunteers donning on santa hats to get into the festive spirit in the lead-up to Christmas to clear the streets around Ashville Road.

Even though the number of participants this time was not as high as last month’s, everyone put in more effort to collect a similar amount with the same unusual items found such as: a tyre rim, a metal door handle and a spoon.

Joe Salmon, a Green Party activist and the brains behind the group said why he thinks this is different to the rest:

Mickayla Ireland, a volunteer at Headingley Litterarti explained why Headingley has a lot of litter:

Catherine Warr, member of Green Peace in Leeds and also another volunteer, said she joined Headingley Litterarti because she thinks the cleaner the environment, the better you will feel:

Headingley Litterarti meets every second sunday of each month and they’re hoping more residents and volunteers will turn up to help raise awareness.

 

 

Local people take action to help clean Headingley streets from litter.

Some of the volunteers who took part in the Headingley clean-up. L-R: Tim Goodall, George Hodgkinson, Martin Hodgkinson, Chris, Tessa Jenkins, Joe Salmon, Jaimes Lewis Moran and Ben.

 

A GROUP of residents from Headingley in Leeds have come together to help tackle the problem of littering in the area.

This Sunday (8th November 2015) saw the first ever meeting of the “Headingley Litterarti” group as they cleaned the streets by Headingley stadium armed with litter pickers supplied by the Council.

The local people and volunteers who attended from around Leeds targeted Headingley Mount and Headingley Avenue, picking up and sorting the rubbish into the appropriate bags for general waste, glass, paper, metal and plastics.

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Local activist, Joe Salmon said: “We’ve had a really great turn out, with loads more people than expected turning up despite the miserable weather to fill bags and bags with rubbish and recycling.”

He first raised the idea at a meeting and decided to take action:

The group plan to do a special Christmas clean-up on Sunday 13th December dressed in Christmas themed costumes and are inviting more locals to join the campaign to keep Headingley clean.

A volunteer of the Litterarti, Mickayla Ireland said: “The purpose of the group is to try and get the community involved in looking after the places where we live.

“We are aiming to get local schools involved and hopefully the student unions – as we have a large student population in the area.”

Retired nurse and volunteer, Tessa Jenkins said it’s nicer to walk the streets when it’s cleaner:

The clean-up also saw members of The Green Party and Green Peace attend to help out by collecting a wide variety of rubbish including a skateboard, badminton rackets and laughing gas canisters.

It is hoped that the next meet-up will attract a bigger audience.

Volunteer of the Headingley clean-up and candidate for The Green Party, Jaimes Lewis Moran said travelling to Headingley from Seacroft was worth the trip:

Bins in Headingley are normally collected on a Wednesday and residents have been advised to take them back in once they’ve been emptied, as leaving them out on the streets will make it hard for wheelchair users and families with pushchairs to walk.