Five years of Adopt-a-Street litter-clearing scheme

Edition: Summer 2020

Set up in 2015, Adopt-a-Street is still going strong. We meet the latest family to join the scheme.

Adam, Olgi, Freya and Jacob with dog Ruby

No one likes the unsightly scene of litter. That’s why some five years ago the Council launched a litter clearing initiative, encouraging residents to literally “adopt their street” and the Adopt-a-Street campaign was born.

We realised that we needed an army of volunteers to do their bit and help us to pick up the mess that was being dropped by others.

From a standing start in 2015 we now have an incredible 4,500 volunteers who regularly give up their time to litter pick and take extra care of their street or an area which they particularly value near them.

Trish and Roger, our first volunteers back in 2015

Still going strong

Back in the spring of 2015 we visited a couple of our very first volunteers Trish Hampton and Roger Smith from Storrington and we are delighted to say that they are still regularly litter picking today.

The success of the Adopt-a-Street scheme has seen many different volunteers come forward to help keep their communities clean and tidy from all walks of life: Scout groups, schoolchildren, retirees and young families.

The new kids on the block

One of our newest recruits is the Smith family from Horsham. Adam Smith, his wife Olgi and their two children Freya and Jacob joined up in early 2020. Here’s what they have to say.

When we welcomed our first family dog Ruby we all started going out for walks more. And that’s when we realised just how much litter was being dropped and left around the woodland near our home. Initially we bought our own litter pickers and called the Council’s Street Cleansing team to dispose of all the litter we collected – then we signed up and joined the Adopt-a-Street scheme.
As a family we generally collect two large sacks of rubbish every outing. Our kids really enjoy it and won’t go out without their litter pickers now!

Adam Smith