We joined up with a Brownie group, the 2nd Dursley Brownies, in our local area to tackle a nearby park.
27 brownies, aged 7 to 10, first listened to a talk from Sophie at Life’s a Beach about how we can cut down on our household waste, reduce plastic, and keep the environment clean. There were lots of ideas suggested by the group, such as taking part in Plastic Free July, reusing things as much as possible, and using tin foil instead of cling film in lunchboxes.
We were really impressed by not only how aware the children were about plastic pollution, but also by how engaged they were when we discussed ideas.
We then all went on a short walk to the nearest park, Dursley War Memorial Recreation Ground, affectionally known as just ‘the rec’ by locals. A very busy local park with play equipment, a skate ramp, tennis courts, and is host to local football clubs who train there throughout the year. Being next to the local secondary school and on the main way into town, it has a lot of foot traffic.
The Brownies split into teams to collect litter. For some, the hoops were too big to hold alongside a litter picker so they decided to take it in turns with one holding the bag hoop whilst others ran to collect rubbish. Some worked in pairs to hold the bag hoops between them as they walked. Their team work was great to see!
The types of rubbish found were mostly related to food. Things like bottle caps, sweet wrappers, and crisp packets. These very light-weight plastics are easily dropped or blown out of bins and then carried by the wind. We found them scattered across the field almost everywhere.
Some of the more interesting things we found were:
- Several fish-shaped soy sauce bottles.
- A tangle of shoe laces.
- Lots of very small shiny silver foil pieces.
- A tiny glass bottle no bigger than an inch tall.
The girls focused on the hedges where litter, blown across the field, had collected. Here we found lots of bits of foil and the litter pickers came in handy for reaching rubbish was either just out of reach, or surrounded by brambles.
As we walked back, we also litter picked on the way; quickly collecting what we could along the short distance between the park and the hall. There was lots of talk about the different things that had been found, with one girl telling us: “I can’t believe there were so many little bits of rubbish everywhere!”
In total 5.03 kilos of litter was collected in around 30 minutes. A great achievement! At the end of the event each Brownie was given a reusable water bottle to help them cut down on single-use plastic, and were also given their Earth Day badge for 2023. We were given a badge also, and felt very honoured.
This clean brings our total to 279.22 kilos of rubbish collected so far this year. Thank you 2nd Dursley Brownies for helping to add to our total, and for giving your time! We hope to hold another litter pick with the 2nd Dursley Brownies troop in Autumn this year. It was an absolute pleasure to litter pick with such an enthusiastic and engaged group of children.
If you are part of a group that would like to hold a litter pick, then please contact us at hello@lifesabeach.org – we would love to hear from you.
