Mayor launches Clean Streets campaign

A computer-generated image of a huge mountain of litter towering over Blaise Castle.

Mayor launches Clean Streets campaign to make Bristol ‘measurably cleaner'

Mayor Marvin Rees, in partnership with Bristol Waste Company, has today launched the city’s first Clean Streets campaign in a bid to help make Bristol measurably cleaner by 2020.

“Let’s be proud of where we live and work together to achieve the goal of clean streets by 2020.”

The three-year campaign asks individuals, community groups, schools and businesses to take collective responsibility for keeping the streets clean and tidy, and encourages everyone to reuse, repair and recycle more.

Cited by the Mayor as being a top priority for the city, the campaign addresses a city-wide perception that levels of littering, fly-tipping, fly-posting and dog fouling have reached an unacceptable level and that more needs to be done to combat the problem.

Marvin Rees, Mayor of Bristol, said: “Cleaning up Bristol’s streets is something everyone in the city wants to see happen and I believe we can do this. We should and we can be as clean as cities such as Zurich, Tokyo and Singapore. We can achieve this if everyone who lives, works, learns or plays here takes pride in the city and works with us and with those who have the job of keeping the city clean, tidy and working.

“The Clean Streets campaign was one of my manifesto pledges and is a subject that’s very close to my heart. It’s something my Mum talks about often – she actually won an award for her own clean-up campaign. I’m asking every citizen to do her or his bit to help clean up this great city of ours. If we all work together, we can change the city around us and make dirty streets, litter, fly-tipping and all that’s defacing our local communities things of the past.
“Let’s be proud of where we live and work together to achieve the goal of clean streets by 2020.”

Mayor Rees has appointed a dedicated project manager, Kurt James, to oversee the campaign. Kurt added: “We know that cleaning up Bristol will not happen overnight but with the help of the city we believe we can deliver lasting change.

“We’re asking people to report problems as they see them, tell us how we can improve our services and get involved. In return, we will regularly report back on the city’s progress, champion best practice and enforce where necessary.”

Whilst we have overall responsibility for running effective street cleansing programmes throughout Bristol, making our streets cleaner is a movement we all need to be part of

The campaign is being delivered in partnership with Bristol Waste Company, which recently won a 10-year contract to provide an integrated waste collection and disposal service for Bristol City Council.

Tracey Morgan, managing director of Bristol Waste Company, commented: “Whilst we have overall responsibility for running effective street cleansing programmes throughout Bristol, making our streets cleaner is a movement we all need to be part of.”

From today, the Clean Streets campaign is encouraging all Bristol residents to do their bit to help.

Tracey continued: “We want to help all individuals and groups, however large or small, to improve the look and feel of their local areas. We’ll do this by providing guidance, materials and equipment as well as celebrating the great work being done in each Bristol neighbourhood. Supporting this campaign could be as simple as pledging to pick up one piece of rubbish a day or joining a community clean-up event, which will be publicised on the Bristol Waste website.”

Each year, Bristol Waste Company collects 3,700 tonnes of litter from Bristol’s streets, not including rubbish that is fly-tipped or citizens’ residual waste. The company has created computer-generated images modelling what that quantity of litter would look like sited next to iconic city landmarks including the M32 and Cabot Tower.


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