Yahoo News Praise for the people behind the huge Armed Forces Weekend clean-up in Cleethorpes
Hundreds of thousands of people enjoying a day out at Armed Forces Weekend means hundreds of thousands of items of litter being produced.
But a mammoth street-cleaning operation has been going on from morning to night, helping to keep Cleethorpes looking spick and span. John Munson, deputy manager for street cleansing at North East Lincolnshire Council, has had the job of co-ordinating the effort.
John could not be prouder of the workers, volunteers and even members of the public for doing their bit to make the tidy-up task a bit easier. With images taken by John of the “before” and “after” states of the Cleethorpes streets, and shared on Facebook, followers were also quick to praise the tireless work of the clean-up squad after reports that the weekend had attracted around 250,000 people.
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John said: “Every year it’s the same job we have to do – I think this year was slightly busier – and we have had great staff and volunteers working over the weekend. We start on Friday night and then it’s from 6am to 11pm.
“There are ten staff working in the day and ten later on. It’s totally full on.
“On Saturday, the bins were filling within an hour – and these are big 240-litre bins. Good people will bag up their rubbish, so we’ll get 30, 40 or 50 bags put at the bottom of a bin.
“I do think people have been better this year at that, I think it’s getting through to them, so they deserve a bit of praise as well for helping to make our job easier. Thanks to everyone who gets involved, from beach safety, business support, grounds maintenance and the people who join in picking up the litter – some just turned up in the gardens to help - and our communications team.
“And it’s not just the weekend. There is a lot of work beforehand making Cleethorpes look beautiful.”
On Facebook, one person said: “They have done an incredible job. Surely the catering vans that come in and make an absolute killing should provide somewhere extra to dispose of rubbish. I noticed some families put their rubbish back in their bags and made children do the same, then others just walked away leaving cans, plastic glasses, fish and chips boxes just where they had been sat! They need to set an example.”
Another person said: “Wow what a wonderful job done. It's sad that people just couldn't take their rubbish home to recycle or bin.” One commenter said: “Great job but what a job. You think by now that people would respect not to litter the streets! I wasn't present for the event but I know I would have certainly said something to anyone I saw littering our pavements! Bet you guys were exhausted! Well done.”
One response said: “So much plastic, too. For a beach resort surely we should be made to make better choices with paper cups or an incentive to have a refillable cup, get 50p of every pint after your first if you return with the same cup etc.”
