Marine plastic River Rescue UK

The picture above was taken at the River Ouse in Harrold, Bedfordshire, in July of 2016.  The pensive man contentedly smoking his pipe, sitting on the bank, after a litter pick, was my father, Ian.  Growing up around the river Ouse as a boy, he fished and became deeply attached to its wildlife. He took great pride in teaching us the importance of stewardship and standards in everything, not least, keeping the places you love, clean and respected.  He loved his vocation, working on the Railways for over 40 years, latterly at London Victoria, where he was known as the Colonel or just Pipeman.  Just three months to the day after this photo was taken, he sadly died suddenly. 

My father was one of the key inspirations for starting the voluntary litter picking group, SeeItPickItBinIt, based in Kettering, Northamptonshire.  We decided to take action after seeing the UK and its waterways ruined and poisoned by plastics.  Since 2011, we have removed and recycled over 10,000KGs or ten cars in weight, from the rivers, green spaces and road of our beautiful county.  Each year we run a 1 Tonne sponsored litter pick, for a good cause and pick a variety of locations throughout the year.  Last year we gave £500 to a Northants animal shelter, Nanna's and this year we're doing a campaign for Animals In Need Irchester.

     After watching the Blue Planet documentary on the BBC, we learnt that plastic was finding its way in to our seas, our wildlife and even our food chain and water.  72% of UK tap water contains plastic.  Horrified by this unfolding, but hidden disaster, we decided to join the fight.  This year we are holding a focused 1 Tonne River plastics clean-up, aiming to remove over 2,200lbs of toxic plastic from the Rivers Ise, Slade Brook and the River Nene, between Northampton and Oundle.  We know that we are just a small part of the solution, but every piece of plastic removed, is a positive step towards achieving a global goal.

 Unfortunately, collecting plastic and litter in Rivers isn't always safe or easy for our pickers.  Uncapped syringes are a particular threat and many of the most beautiful habitats, are also the most inaccessible.  To realise our potential as a group, we need waders, 6ft super long litter grabbers, anti-syringe gloves and in our dreams, some form of simple inflatible boat, so that we can get right on top of the worst litter spots.  I will be volunteering on my days off between now and Christmas, to beat the plastics problem in our county.  We are aiming to raise £300 to buy the equipment that we need, so that I can reverse decades of neglect of our river and lakes. 

Riverbanks often go uncleaned indefinitely, as local and county authorities do not take ownership of the flytipping or windblown litter.  Therefore, it is up to volunteer groups such as ours to recognise and then set about solving the problem, through simple but real world action.  Quite simply, very few people are doing anything about this blight to our ecosystems.

  My father set a trend with my family and friends, stopping to pick-up pieces of litter, purely because he felt it was the right thing to do.  It is our burning ambition to honour his memory, by breaking the norm of ignoring the problem and launching a meaningful campaign to combat the rising tide of poisonous plastics in our waterways and oceans.   If you can, we would sincerely appreciate any help you can give us this year, so that the 2018 1 Tonne River plastics litter pick campaign, can be a solid success.  If you give your name, I will pick a bag of litter especially dedicated to you and the help you have given us.  Thanks, Nick.