A small army of public-spirited litter pickers is keeping the streets of North East Wales tidy.
Wrexham Litter Pickers, part of the national Keep Wales Tidy (KWT) organisation, has an impressive total of 2,300 members on its Facebook page and over 50 litter champions across the county borough, all dedicated to keeping its public spaces clean.
They and Flintshire operate from a unit on Lock Stock Self Storage’s storage park in Ruabon Road, Wrexham, where they store the tools of their trade, litter pickers, hi-vis vests, rubbish bags, and hoops – essential for keeping bags open in breezy conditions – ready to be handed out to volunteers.
KWT Project Officer for Wrexham Emma Watson joined the organisation in April and she said: “Wrexham Litter Pickers are one of our biggest groups in Wales and they’re all members of their own Facebook Group.
“They do a fantastic job and are very active in posting pictures of their litter picking around the Borough.
“We do have lots of different groups in Wrexham and 51 Litter champions who we support with equipment to keep their own local patches tidy.
“They just apply to us and we supply them with the equipment which we store at our hub at Lock Stock’s site at Felin Puleston, on Ruabon Road.
“Our Litter Champions have one thing in common – they’re passionate about their community and want to make a difference so we provide all the kit, support and insurance they need to safely clean up the environment on their doorstep.”
Richard Warner, Lock Stock Regional Manager for North East and Mid Wales, said: “Keep Wales Tidy do a fantastic job in picking up litter and in raising awareness of the problems of littering.
“We often have issues around our sites and we do our best to keep them neat and tidy but it’s all about having respect for the place where you live and the number of volunteers they have speaks for itself.
“We’re always happy to support local organisations and Keep Wales Tidy have a unit here in Wrexham and one in Denbigh as well.
“They have 24/7 access so it’s ideal for them if they have litter picks they can just come on site, pick up their equipment and off they go.”
Lock Stock, founded in Denbigh in 1999, is the UK’s largest containerised storage company with 60 per cent of their units rented by people moving house or keeping treasured possessions but up to 40 per cent, almost 2,000 used by small businesses for storing materials.
They offer a choice of 10 and 20 foot unit at their smaller sites going up to 40-foot units at their larger sites.
Those sites stretch from Holyhead and along the North Wales coast at Caernarfon, Bangor, Llandudno, Abergele and Rhyl, on the Dee at Flint, Saltney and Deeside and inland at Denbigh, Mold, Wrexham and Newtown in Powys, and at Oswestry, Shrewsbury and Craven Arms, in Shropshire, and Brimfield, in Herefordshire.
There is a growing market from students looking to store possessions outside term time and Lock Stock also specialise in the off-site hire – and sale – of containers, delivered to location by their specialist lorry which can even bring a unit to your premises to fill or empty and store it at any of our locations.
