Great British Spring Clean
What is the Great British Spring Clean?
Back for its ninth year, the Great British Spring Clean is the nation’s biggest mass-action environmental campaign.
The campaign, by Keep BritainTidy encourages the public to make a real difference in their communities by either hosting or participating in a litter pick.
Our 2024 Campaign
We hosted a number of pop-up litter picking events across the district. Litter picking equipment was made available at these events for anyone who wished to participate in picking as much or as little litter they liked, as one bag makes a big difference!
The dates and locations of litter picking events we hosted are shown below:
We wish to thank all of those who attended our events, or hosted their own litter pick, despite the drizzly weather at times!
This year we pledged that 200 bags of litter would be collected throughout the campaign period.
At the end of the campaign over 280 bags of litter were collected by over 300 volunteers taking part! Below are some photos captured throughout our litter picking tour of the district.
Poster competition
Our poster competition for the Great British Spring Clean was very popular with 57 fabulous entries in total! A big thank you to everyone who took part - we loved seeing your artwork.
Hattie, aged 4 from Deal, is our overall winner of a £50 gift card with her bright and fun poster encouraging people to do the right thing and put litter in the bin. Hattie’s design will soon be available for everyone to see on a refuse vehicle in the district.
Two runner-up prizes of £25 gift cards are going to Poppy with her powerful message of a sad flower asking people to stop littering, and to Summer-Leigh, aged 12 from Dover, with her positive call to ‘be the solution, not the pollution’. Thank you to our competition sponsors, DDC’s waste contract partner, Veolia UK.
Our REACH Awards
Our REACH Awards (Recognising Environmental and Community Heroes) recognise our district’s unsung heroes who work hard to improve the appearance of the Dover District, help to maintain our environment and unite the local community. Split into five different categories, the scheme acknowledges those individuals and groups who work tirelessly to make a difference, as well as local businesses who are putting the environment at the top of their agenda.
The 2024 awards were sponsored by the mobile phone app Litter Lotto, free to enter, and candidates can nominate themselves or others in the following categories:
- Litter Picker of the Year
- Junior Litter Picker of the Year
- The Green Business Award
- The Community Award
- The Green School Award
The winners of each category will receive a certificate, an award trophy and official recognition at an awards ceremony to be held locally in June 2024. The closing date for applications and nominations is 6 May 2024.To find out more about last year's winners please visit our dedicated REACH awards webpage.
How do I host a litter pick?
Dover District Council can provide litter picking equipment for events and also arrange for the collected waste to be disposed of.
To organise a litter pick, and to review all the current safety advice, please visit CommunityCleanUps.
You may find Keep Britain Tidy's beginners guide to litter picking of benefit when considering organising your own event.
Our previous campaigns
Dover District Council has supported the Great British Spring Clean Campaign for several years now. To find out more about our previous campaigns, please see the links below:
Great British Spring Clean 2022
Great British Spring Clean 2023
Litter and Fly Tipping
If litter and fly tipping is an issue in your area, we would encourage you to report this to us. We can arrange for the area to be cleansed by our street cleansing team in publicly maintained areas, and arrange for our Environmental Enforcement Officers to conduct patrols to help tackle the issues.
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To report litter in your area, please visit Litter
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To report fly tipping, please visit FlyTipping