Harborough litter pickers thanked for tireless work keeping district clean

Cllr Phil King with Bob Lee, volunteers and FCC Environment

Litter pickers from Harborough have been thanked for their tireless work keeping the district clean.

South Leicestershire Litter Wombles was formed in 2019 and now has some 500 volunteers. Between them they have collected 100,000 bags of litter from across South Leicestershire and Leicester.

Litter bags and kit are supplied by Harborough District Council with full bags removed by council contractor FCC Environment for disposal or recycling.

And to mark the milestone volunteers were invited to parliament by MP Neil O’Brien. They were also praised by council leader Phil King and leader of the opposition Phil Knowles.

Cllr King said: “The council is incredibly grateful for the work South Leicestershire Litter Wombles have done to help to keep Harborough district clean and green. The group really enhance the work done by the council and FCC Environment, and we have an excellent working relationship with the group. The positive way all parties work together is really making a difference.”

Leader of the opposition Cllr Phil Knowles said: “This community group do so much to help keep our area clean. They give freely of their time to clean up the mess of others and to keep our area looking beautiful. We owe them a debt of gratitude for their community spirit and at the same time we need to renew our call to residents and visitors to take litter home or place it in to one of the many bins provided."

South Leicestershire Litter Wombles founder Bob Lee said: “What started out as a bit of a rant on social media, has turned into a movement of amazing liked-minded volunteers. All our volunteers give up their time to clean up our environment and there’s nowhere we won’t try and clean. To reach an astonishing landmark of 100,000 is both scary and satisfying. Much of the rubbish we clear up is more than 25 years old and hasn’t degraded at all.

“Harborough District Council have been very supportive and we couldn’t be successful without their back up. The job isn’t finished yet though. There is still plenty of litter out in our landscape, so if you’d like join us and make a difference, please check out our Facebook page.”

Click here to find out more about joining the group.