Sarah Dobinson
'Every day is different. I listen to and watch the birds, and see field mice jumping out of the grass verges.'
Sarah Dobinson
Sarah spends a lot of her free time regularly litter-picking in a wide radius around Greystoke village, near Penrith. We were told that she's out in all weather, throughout the year, has done it for years! Here's why it's important to her:
'I love to be out in the countryside. When I'm litter-picking, I cover a 5-mile radius of my village, and generally do about 10 hours per week. Over the last year, I've picked 152 bags of rubbish, which works out at roughly 3 bags per week. Every day is different. I listen to and watch the birds, and see field mice jumping out of the grass verges.
Coming farming background, I've long had an awareness of how plastic and rubbish can damage both wildlife and farm animals. It can also travel into watercourses and further afield to the sea, which over the past decade has been getting worse and worse with so much rubbish washing up on beaches.
As a member of the Greystoke Parish Council, I also see how carelessly dropped litter can damage communities, for example by blocking storm drains and causing flooding in the long term. Removing dropped litter, from a council point of view, costs unnecessary money that could be used for something better.
Since Covid, litter-picking has become more and more challenging. I live in a touristy area so it's been very busy, which means more litter unfortunately.
Things needs to change. Littering needs to be minimised and ideally completely stopped before we do more harm to the earth. There needs to be more publicity around people being responsible and respectful in the outdoors – and taking their litter home!'