Volunteers carry out first ever complete Warrington A49 litter pick

VOLUNTEERS from Warrington Litter Networks rolled up their sleeves and completed a litter pick the whole length of the A49 through Warrington, from the M56 at Stretton, to Houghton Green at Winwick.

It was the first ever litter pick of Warrington’s entire A49, and involved collecting another 177 bags of litter that was removed from the town’s streets.

Group spokesperson Tony Dixon said: “This litter pick was a first for Warrington. It had never been done before. It consisted of tidying the whole of the Warrington section of the A49.
“We believe this might be Warrington’s most littered road.”

The task took several weeks and a number of planned picks by different teams:
Sunday team, Tuesday team, Howley and Fairfield litter team, along with Stretton Litter Network and Orford Litter Team, Latchford Litter Network and Winwick litter Network were all involved to varying degrees.

Tony added: “Safe picking was a major issue so we opted for the minimum volunteer numbers necessary for the task. This meant many small teams rather than large groups. One section was done by a single volunteer, and another section by cycle. Other sections used up to ten volunteers.
“In total 177 bags of litter were collected. Much of the litter appeared to originate from passing traffic. As CCTV camera coverage increases and enforcement comes into play, we hope to see a long-term reduction in littering from vehicles.
“Thank you to all the volunteers who came from Winwick, Orford, Howley and Fairfield, Latchford, and Stretton, with large contributions from the Tuesday and Sunday litter teams.”