A new anti-litter campaign has been launched by Leeds City Council after a significant rise in litter and rubbish seen across a number of the city’s 63 community parks in the past year.
The new campaign urges visitors to take their rubbish home or dispose of it in an appropriate way and signage and banners are now on display at a number of community parks and green spaces across Leeds.
Parks and green spaces have remained open during all of the restrictions put in place to tackle Covid-19 since March 2020 and this has resulted in visitor numbers increasing significantly.
With a number of restrictions now relaxed and more proposed to follow in the next few months, the council is keen that this trend in increased littering does not continue, especially with summer approaching.
Various spells of good weather recently have already resulted in high levels of rubbish being left at a number of parks and green spaces across the city.
A similar anti-littering campaign undertaken by Leeds City Council in conjunction with Keep Britain Tidy was very well received last summer and the council is hoping for similar success this year.
Commenting, Leeds City Council’s Lead Member for Environment and Active Lifestyles, Councillor Denise Ragan said: “We are very proud of our parks and green spaces, which have been so important to people of all ages over the last year.
“Unfortunately we have seen a rise in litter along with increased visitor numbers to our parks across the city.
“This is the reason why we have started a campaign at a number of our parks to urge people to please take their rubbish home or dispose of it appropriately.
“I cannot emphasise enough how important this message is to keep our parks and green spaces looking fantastic and protect the wellbeing of animals and wildlife.
“The scenes we’ve seen at some parks and the sheer volume of litter that has been left on these green spaces, is completely unacceptable.
“We need every single visitor to our community parks and green spaces to show personal responsibility and take their litter home or dispose of it acceptably.
“If you are planning to stay a while and bring food or drink or any other disposable items, please bring bags with you.
“I hope this campaign will help spread this vital message, especially as we approach the busy summer months.”
