Beauty spot gets a spring clean

Almost 40 people from the local mountain biking community, walkers and residents turned up at Nesscliffe Country Park for a trail clean was organised by Trash Free Trails - a non-profit organisation dedicated to reducing the litter on the UK’s trails.

They collected a huge amount of rubbish including a five gallon oil drum, a fire extinguisher and 84 full bags of dog poo.

It was part of the week-long Trash Free Trails Spring Trail Clean Tour which included some of the UK’s most well know mountain biking destinations.

The Nesscliffe event was inspired by a local walker who was aware of the work that Trash Free Trails were doing and wanted to get involved.

Shropshire Councillor Ed Potter was there to help out and to give his support to the volunteers before they headed out on the clean.

After a quick briefing by the local Trash Free Trails Ambassadors John Bellis and Ross Lambie, the volunteers spread across the hill to collect as much rubbish as possible. After an hour of trail cleaning everything was brought back to the car park to be sorted.

In total the volunteers found 14 full bags of rubbish which included large amounts of single use plastic, cans and bottles along with some larger items, the strangest of which being the remains of an old fire extinguisher.

The most found item however was dozens of bags of dog poo that had been left on the hill, caught on trees, hidden in bushes or left at the sides of the paths.

John Bellis from Trash Free Trails said “It’s amazing what you find when you start looking. We’re used to finding lots of single use plastic but the number of full discarded dog poo bags is just crazy.

"Regardless whether they walk, ride or just play in the park it’s great to see people who are passionate about their wild spaces and are willing to give up part of their Bank Holiday weekend to help."

Instead of just bagging and binning the trash that was found the trail clean volunteers spent time carefully separating and tallying all branded items to help Trash Free Trails produce the first ever ‘State of the Trails - Litter Report’ which will paint a true picture of the trail litter issue nationally.

The event was run in partnership with Shropshire Council and was aimed at fostering engagement between the various user groups on the hill.

Lezley Picton, Shropshire Council Cabinet member for culture and leisure, said: "I’m thrilled with the clear up at Nesscliffe and am really pleased that Shropshire Council has worked with Trash Free Trails and passionate members of the local community to achieve such a wonderful result. I’d like to give a big thank you to everyone who took part!”

All rubbish that was collected was picked up by Shropshire Council and was recycled wherever possible.