Bin it for Britain!

Support Prima's campaign to clear up litter and you could win £500

It's official: the streets are dirtier these days - that's what 82 per cent of you told our survey. So, we're launching a campaign to help you rid your area of litter - for good

Remember when a walk to your local shops didn't involve trudging through cigarette butts or finding yourself glued to the pavement by discarded chewing gum? There was a time when we wouldn't have dreamed of dropping litter on the street, but, according to Keep Britain Tidy, litter is now five times worse than it was in the 1960s. More than 30million tons of litter are collected from English streets every year,* and we're footing the bill for cleaning it up. It costs council-tax payers in England, Scotland and Wales a staggering £672m a year to clean the streets,** yet our research found that 76 per cent of you are still having to pick up other people's litter. We know this is a cause close to your hearts, so we're launching the Prima Bin It For Britain campaign. We're asking you to make a difference to our streets by rounding up your friends and family to tackle the trash!

Supporters of our campaign include:

Peter Ainsworth, Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Joan Ruddock, Minister for Waste

Jane Davidson, Welsh Assembly Minister for the Environment, Sustainability and Housing

John Summers, OBE, Chief Executive of Keep Scotland Beautiful

 

Clean up - and win £500
Prima is urging everyone to get together to tackle litter across the country and make Britain a place to be proud of.

Throughout August and September, we're inviting you to clean up your area and tell us about it. We're offering £500 for the most impressive clean-up, to put towards a future community project. So round up family, friends and neighbours and get to grips with a litter problem in your area. You could blitz a well-known blackspot, such as a park or shopping precinct, or hold a contest one afternoon with prizes for the family or group of friends who fill the most bin bags with rubbish. Send us before and after pictures of your clean-up project, with 200 words explaining what the area was like before and what you did to transform it. We also want to know how you would spend your £500 to make your community even better. Send your entries to: Prima Bin It For Britain, Prima Features, 72 Broadwick Street, London W1F 9EP or email prima@natmags.co.uk. The closing date is 30 September 2008

 
What do you think about the litter problem? Email your views on our campaign to prima@natmags.co.uk or leave a comment below. You can read more about the campaign in the September issue of Prima, out now.

* Keep Britain Tidy
* * Keep Britain Tidy, Keep Scotland Beautiful