Kettering litter pick unearths decades-old rubbish

Crisp packets dating back to the 1980s and a 20-year-old lemonade can were among the 50 sacks of rubbish collected during a litter pick in Kettering.
Ring pull cans were discontinued in the 1980s (Picture James Dell)Ring pull cans were discontinued in the 1980s (Picture James Dell)
Ring pull cans were discontinued in the 1980s (Picture James Dell)

On Saturday (April 6), the Rotary Club of Kettering Tresham organised a community litter pick as part Keep Britain Tidy's national campaign.

Kettering town councillor Mick Scrimshaw (Labour, William Knibb ward), who joined the 29 volunteers on the litter pick, said the decades-old rubbish was a reminder that people need to be convinced not to drop litter and take pride in where they live.

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"These images shared by somebody on the litter pick sum up why we need to persuade people from dropping litter," said Cllr Scrimshaw.

These crisp packets are close to 30 years old (Picture: James Dell)These crisp packets are close to 30 years old (Picture: James Dell)
These crisp packets are close to 30 years old (Picture: James Dell)

"The salt and vinegar crisp packet was dated 29 years ago while the cheese and onion is 27 years old, and who can remember when drinks cans stopped having ring pulls?

"It must be well over 20 years ago.

"We all need to take pride in our town and persuade and convince others to do so too."

Among the volunteers on Saturday were McDonald's staff, Cllr Maggie Don, deputy mayor Keli Watts, and members of the Kettering Town Partnership and Tresham Rotary Club.

29 people took part in the community litter pick29 people took part in the community litter pick
29 people took part in the community litter pick
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The volunteers split into groups and in an hour collected 50 bin bags of litter from the streets around London Road and Pytchley Road.

Kim Parry from the Tresham Rotary Club said: "It was brilliant to see people come together to put some love back into Kettering and was wonderful to be joined by a family with their children and a deaf family just showing how everyone can be included.

"We were stopped along the way by people saying thank you which made it even more worthwhile."

Elsewhere in Northamptonshire, a Long Buckby farmer - Joe Adams - who picked litter on a 3.3km stretch of road also found rubbish dating back 30 years.

Some of the rubbish pictured during the litter pickSome of the rubbish pictured during the litter pick
Some of the rubbish pictured during the litter pick
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Mr Adams has proposed compiling a 'Litter Index' next year cataloguing identifiable rubbish, attributing it to its manufacturer before invoicing each of them their corresponding percentage of the total cleanup bill.

Simon Cox, from the Kettering Town Partnership, said: “Unfortunately we find ourselves in a world where people don’t use public litter bins or facilities provided to dispose of their waste.

"A bush or a garden is an easy option but it’s not the right option and I would like to thank everyone who gave up their time to collect the litter on the litter pick.

"It was great to see members of the community coming together to participate and we will be arranging further litter picks with the Rotary Club of Tresham to help tidy up the town.”

Kettering Council provided the grabbers and rubbish sacks.