Our aim is to provide a nationally recognisable symbol, a banner that unites a host of local efforts and initiatives, all around the UK, making each instantly recognisable wherever you are, at the same time providing a rich resource to support local initiatives which in their turn inspire others, creating the ultimate virtuous circle, an unstoppable force quite literally transforming communities and lives.

Nourishing the perfect environment, educating, encouraging, supporting and inspiring all of us to adopt and embrace a better way: disposing of waste responsibly, reducing waste and actively embracing, appreciating and enhancing all aspects of our natural world – people living in harmony with nature.

A partnership

Community groups, individuals, businesses, councils and anyone involved in improving your local environment is invited to register with us FREE OF CHARGE, share your story, generate increased local support and become ever more successful. We’ll send you some stickers to display locally and share your details and activities online to encourage new members, increase local support for your activities and to inspire others. If you would like copies of any designs just ask.

Let’s make Happy spaces

The natural world is a vibrant place, full of vivid colours, scents and smells so why is so much of our built environment so damn miserable?

Does black make anyone feel happy, does it inspire anyone?

Bright colours make people feel happy, happy people are nicer people, they smile more, are more sociable and productive, so why not make our built environment a happier space, replace those black bins with brighter colours, give the wild flowers a chance to bloom, plant fruit trees in public spaces. Set your imagination free, bring your community to life.

Businesses

Reducing waste brings opportunities, a cleaner, happier environment is a more profitable environment. Perhaps you would like to sponsor our work or a local campaign?

Councils

We can work with you to adopt a whole new approach to keeping the local environment cleaner and greener, display the logo on every bin, multi-colour bright, happy bins making public spaces happy, safe spaces.

Allotments may not look very tidy but they are immensely valuable to the community and the natural world.

Living with Nature

Enhances our lives, is great for our physical and mental health and is much appreciated by all the little creatures on whom our own wellbeing depends.

This small area among houses and people has been maintained as a semi-wild area, maintaining a balance between the needs and wants of people and the needs of the Natural world.

The village had no allotments, many residents wanted them but the powers that be didn’t and they threw every imaginable obstacle in the way, but after five years the vision was realised and a thriving community was born, among a host of fruit trees completing the transformation, an example of persistence, determination and partnership.

The land is owned by a local trust, it was rented out to a local farmer but the trust earn more income from the allotments, there was no access to the field until United Utilities came to the rescue, allowing access through their water treatment plant.

Dropping Litter is Unacceptable!

It is Not

a victimless crime

Litter statistics UK

• 226 million cigarette butts are discarded in England every year 
• £1 billion – the estimated cost of picking up litter in Britain in 2015
• 11,212 bottles and cans were collected in 2018’s month-long CPRE Green Clean Campaign
• 2.25 million pieces of litter are dropped on the streets every day [source: Symphony Environmental].
• 180,000+ sacks of litter are cleared from motorways and major A roads each year by Highways England.
• £2.3 million is spend by Network Rail annually to clear fly tipping from its land.  
• Danger to wildlife The RSPCA receives 7,000 calls a year about litter-related incidents, from badger cubs with plastic can holders embedded in their necks to hedgehogs with their heads wedged in empty tins.

25 May 2022 A new study led by Loughborough University geographer Dr Tom Stanton, found the majority of UK litter is made up of plastic, and the most common items discarded into the environment are drinks packaging.

The researchers found:

• 63% of items were made of plastic, 14% metal, and 12% composite (a material made from two or more different materials)
• Most of the litter (56%) had been used as packaging, with beverage containers accounting for 33.4% of all litter
• Though most items of litter were plastic-based, when it came to litter associated with the beverage industry, metal cans were highest in abundance (33.6%) and then plastic bottles (29.7%)
• Branding was identified on 38.8% of all logged litter; 26% of the brand-bearing litter was associated with the Coca-Cola Company, Anheuser-Busch InBev, and PepsiCo.

Back to the FUTURE?

Many older people will remember a time before excessive waste, before plastic, long before best before and use by dates, maybe they were harder times but were they also healthier and happier times that still have a lot to teach us. I made good pocket money checking the bins for bottles to return for the deposit.

I grew up on farms largely around the Yorkshire Dales, we didn’t own a car, there were no buses, still no buses to this day, the nearest town was around six miles away, a mobile shop and a butcher visited once a week, we didn’t own a fridge and yet we were healthy, ate well and never felt deprived.

Small changes bring HUGE REWARDS

We suggest there is no real need for a vast amount of the waste we produce and small changes to the way we live can bring substantial benefits for ourselves and our environment; we should stop blindly accepting the way we live and start to challenge everything we do, is there a better way, do we really need to buy the things we do, are they good for us and the planet, question everything, live differently and live better.

The benefits can be incredibly far reaching, with the potential to benefit every aspect of our lives.

Cut out the waste

Food waste is food that we don't eat. In the UK, every year households waste 6.6. million tonnes of food and 4.5 million tonnes of that is edible food - products that could have been eaten. The rest is inedible, things we can't eat like tea bags, eggshells, and bones. The use by and best before dates account for huge waste as perfectly safe, edible food is binned.

Get in touch, share your stories and aspirations and help build unstoppable momentum for a bright, clean, safe, sustainable and prosperous future.

Would you like us to come and talk to you?

The Wildlife Trusts,

The Kiln, Mather Road,

Newark NG24 1WT           

Phone: 01636 677711

RSPB

Phone: 01767 693680

membership@rspb.org.uk

All around the UK many thousands of people give up their time each day to pick up rubbish that just keeps on coming regardless, a seemingly relentless wave devastating communities and wildlife. Picking it up makes a huge difference but we really need to address the cause, encourage people to take a pride in our communities and look after the natural world, our resources are not infinite, they are too precious to throw away.

Making healthy meals from scratch is relatively easy, with practice and education, and can be quite quick, the ingredients are readily accessible and cheap, the meals are tasty with little waste.

For more information on processed and ultra-processed foods

Some of the most commonly eaten ultra-processed foods in the UK are:

• Industrialised bread.
• Pre-packaged meals.
• Cereal.
• Reconstituted meat products such as sausages.

Ultra Processed Foods are bad for us because:

• Contain too much sugar, sodium and fat. ...
• Lacking in nutritional value. ...
• Calorie dense and addicting. ...
• Quicker to digest. ...
• Full of artificial ingredients.

Eat Healthy

Much of the food we eat now is Ultra Processed (UPF), more than half the calories consumed by the average person in the UK come from UPF, new research has linked these foods to early death and poor health. A five-year study of over 100,000 people found that every 10 percent increase in consumption of ultra processed food was associated with a 12 percent higher risk for cancer.

• A visible reminder of all the work no one sees,
• Make and keep our streets and communities happy, clean and safe spaces
• Enhance our environment, both natural and built,
• Building on success, supporting all those people who work so hard to make their communities places to be proud of,
• Changing attitudes, building constructive, productive partnerships,
• Complementing and supporting other initiatives,
• A valuable resource to be used by anyone free of charge.

Cleaner and Greener

Look beneath the lush canopy and you will find a veritable hive of activity as individuals, groups, communities complement each other with one aim, to improve our environment, built and natural, so that all life can flourish.

Living in Harmony with Nature

A problem becomes an Opportunity

A lot of people want to see areas kept tidy, they don’t understand the natural world is an untidy place so here a balance has been struck, the trees, flowers and grasses flourish, sustaining a host of natural life while providing an area that people, and animals, can enjoy.