Big clean is a big success

East Durham residents have been praised for helping make a major clean-up campaign a success.

The month-long New Year Big Clean saw community-minded residents joining forces with staff from District of Easington Council to tackle litter, graffiti, flytipping and other environmental problems.

Members of the public turned out in force to support the initiative, with more 1,500 people taking part in organised litter picks, helping to collect 264 bags of rubbish – more than double the amount collected last year.

Council clean and green teams, meanwhile, boosted the totals by collecting 2,600 bags of litter and 10 tonnes of flytipped waste.

And increased patrols by environmental and street wardens saw 29 people handed fixed penalty fines for littering, while a further 10 were fined for failing to clean up after their dog.

Coun George Patterson, District of Easington Council’s Executive Member for Liveability, said: “The people of the district really have done us proud this year by helping to making the sure the Big Clean once again proved to be such a big success.

“We’d like to thank everyone who took part and all the organisations who lent their support. We’re extremely grateful for all their efforts.”

The council carries out a clean-up operation at the start of every calendar year but last year saw the extension of the scheme as members of the public were asked to do their bit as part of the Pride in Easington campaign.

This year’s follow-up saw even more residents, community groups, volunteers and schoolchildren taking part.

Pupils from Easington Comprehensive School collected the most bags during a single litter pick, with just eight pupils returning 30 bin liners of litter.

Children from Cotsford Infant School, Horden, collected 25 bags, helping them to attain their silver level Eco Schools award.

Workers from Horden and Easington Regeneration Partnerships organised two street cleaning events on the same day and attracted 20 helpers in total.

Members of Seaham Youth Theatre showed their support for the campaign by entertaining shoppers in Peterlee as they out information and carried out a litter pick.