A LITTER campaign encouraging people to dispose of their rubbish responsibly sees ‘Don’t be a tosser’ posters put up in public open spaces.

After the first lockdown the country found an unprecedented amount of people visiting beauty spots and leaving an enormous amount of litter.

Ready for the end of lockdown this time Wallingford and its surrounding villages wants to be ready with its very own poster campaign which has proved successful and has been adopted by many councils in the UK.

Wallingford 1155, a local charity which aims to give back to the community of Wallingford, is launching the new anti-litter campaign this month, after seeing a huge increase in rubbish being left in local parks, riverside, and public open spaces after the easing of the first lockdown.

Read also: Great Western Park fly-tipping has locals in anger

‘Don’t be a tosser’ posters, questioning why people are dumping their rubbish are being put up at public open spaces in Wallingford encouraging people to dispose of their rubbish responsibly.

The charity says the strapline is not intended to cause offence, but it is designed to tackle the issue and draw attention.

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Mark Brett Chair of Wallingford 1155 said: “We need to get the message out there that being a ‘tosser’ is socially unacceptable. People should take responsibility for their own litter and not expect others to clean up their mess.”

The most common items left by members of the public in parks and public spaces include picnic debris, pizza boxes, coffee cups, balloons, glass bottles, cans, plastic bottles, and bags of dog foul.

Mr Brett added: “Our volunteer #litterheroes did an amazing job in September filled fifteen 1100 litre Grundon bins, that’s 16500 litres of rubbish. But the increased levels have been very significant. Littering is illegal, anti-social, has a negative impact on our environment, is harmful for our wildlife and costs thousands of pounds each year to clear”.

Wallingford 1155 has supported the Facebook group ‘Grab a Bag Wallingford’ by providing litter pickers, bags and hoops and high vis jackets, enabling people during their allowed daily exercise to pick litter.

Mr Brett said: "We found a 7up soft drinks can recently with a best before date 1987, which goes to show litter doesn’t disappear.”

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