School pupils lead the way in tackling litter and fly-tipping

TWO community days of action have taken place in Ashton-under-Lyne where local school children have joined in to help clean up and tackle hotspot areas.

Year 6 pupils from St James Primary School joined forces with local councillors and officers on a clean up on Wednesday, July 12, which was arranged after the children wrote to ward members to highlight litter and fly-tipping issues in the St Michael’s area.

Officers issued 7 fixed-penalty notices and cleared numerous accumulations of waste as part of the day of action, which was part of Tameside Council’s wider Our Streets campaign to encourage the community to come together to create a greener, cleaner and safer borough.

Two weeks earlier on June 28, pupils from Holy Trinity Primary joined Greater Manchester Police (GMP), Jigsaw Homes, local councillors and council officers in St Peter’s to focus on Millennium Green.

Council Enforcement Officers investigated fly tipped waste dumped on the streets and served 11 Fixed Penalty Notices for the offence of fly tipping in relation to waste dumped on Bentinck Street, Dean Street, Blandford Street and Layard Street in St Peter’s.

The street cleansing teams are out across the borough every day clearing waste and searching for evidence of offenders.

So far, in 2023, the team has served over 60 Fixed Penalty Notices for waste related offences across the borough, including littering, fly tipping and commercial duty of care with two people also being prosecuted in court.

Tameside Council Executive Member for Climate Emergency & Environmental Service Councillor Denise Ward, who also joined the days of action, said: “All credit to these school children for leading the way in taking a proactive approach to making a positive difference to their local neighbourhoods.

As well as highlighting the issue, they were also eager to lend a hand in tackling it and they have showed just how easy it is to litter pick as well as take action to look after the areas where they live.

“The joint days of action have really highlighted how successful a partnership approach to tackling flytipping, littering and waste enforcement can be – with residents, businesses, the council and other partners working together to look after and take pride in our streets.

“There is no excuse for fly-tipping or littering, it is unacceptable and disrespectful to the local community and environment. We will always take enforcement action against offenders where we find evidence.”

For further information, visit the Our Streets webpage or follow #OurStreets on social media.