We wish this site weren't necessary. But while there is litter along our streets, on our beaches and in the countryside, there will be those who give of their time and energy
to tackle the problem and make our land a cleaner, safer, more pleasant place for people and wildlife alike.
We're here to help put those litter-pickers in touch with one another, to provide support, advice and encouragement. To let each other know when group events are taking place,
and to act as a record of those generous individuals who do so much to tackle the problem. We can document both group and individual picks, so that over time we can provide evidence of
the scale of the littering problem, and of the thousands of hours put in by volunteers in every corner of the UK.
This site does not set out to be another social media channel - there are plenty of those. This is targetted at providing information to pickers, groups, environmental and government
bodies (at both local and national levels).
The developers, authors and contributors are litter pickers ourselves. We do this in our "spare" time in the hope that we can inspire, encourage and assist our colleagues in cleaning
up whatever and wherever is littered; to make litter-picking more and more a socially acceptable activity and, in so doing, make littering wholly unacceptable and discourage those
who would otherwise throw their rubbish on the street from doing so. Our dream is for a litter-free society where none of us need reach for our litter-pickers and sacks!
You are welcome to browse the pages as a visitor, but we hope that you will - if you've not already - take the plunge and start collecting litter yourself. If you do, it will really
help us - and you - if you can sign up as a member. You may share a little info about yourself if you wish, but there's no obligation. It's free, safe and private. As above, we run
this site in our spare time. We're not staff of some huge charity or business, so if you need to contact us, be patient - we may be busy! We are able - for now at least - to fund
this ourselves, but there are costs involved in running any website. If you sign-up, we'll give you a link where you may -
if you wish, donate just £1.00 via PayPal
to help with the running costs. Any donations received in excess of this will be passed back to litter picking groups around the country to help support their activities. We're
committed to being open about our finances and you can find out more
here.
The site is very much a work in progress, features are being added all the time - so watch this space, and
let us know if there's more you would like to see.
/\Future plans
We already have a long list of things we intend to add, to make this site more useful, easier to use, more secure:
- Mapping will include not only static maps, but "timelines". These will be animated maps that show a month's worth of litter-picking
activity, the markers fading as they grow older. As well as a "snapshot" of where litter is being collected, you'll see dynamically when
picks are taking place. Options for other time periods will be available eventually too.
- Groups will immediately have their own personalised website addresses, such as WimbledonWombles.LitterPick.UK ... these are generated
automatically and completely free-of-charge. These sites will incorporate the full LitterPick.UK functionality, but include group-specific
news and info on the home page, maps focussed on the group centre. This facility allows local groups to promote themselves better within
their communities, with a full-featured professional website. Group admins will also have access to custom email addresses, so they can send
email from (e.g.) WimbledonWombles@LitterPick.UK and have emails sent to that address redirected to one or more group admin addresses;
again, all for free. (We may need to impose some limits on the number of emails sent, in order to protect LitterPick.UK from accusations of spam
etc). The custom web addresses for groups will be there from launch date. In due course you'll be able to customise site colour schemes, fonts,
and background images to match any existing "branding" and emphasise the local nature of your site.
- Integrate What3Words so that we can display meeting points for picks using W3W, and so people can report litter hotspots etc Done 13-02-22
- To combat spam and abuse, members may join a maximum of 5 groups. People within a group abusing the system can be banned by group admins; any banned
memberships still count towards their limit of 5 groups, and once banned they cannot un-join that group. Spammers will quickly find their accounts locked and
unusable.
- Users, and group admins, will be able to download their picking data in common spreadsheet formats. This will allow them to analyse their
statistics however they wish, and some local councils like litter returns in spreadsheet format.
- We'll be inviting guest bloggers to write for us, and feature these monthly or weekly. We'll be seeking input from national groups like Keep Britain Tidy,
from politicians and decision makers, and from celebrity litter-pickers. We'll need your help to suggest authors and help us get in touch.
- We hope to have some pages on "best practice" - things like template Risk Assessments (with advice on how to tailor them for your own situations),
on insurance options, on working with your local Council, fast-food outlets and much more. Again, we'll need input from you as members to create
these resources.
- Users will be able to report specific littered areas (not fly-tipping) so we can see not only what's been picked up, but locations that
need urgent attention. Local groups or individuals can then target those places. Mapping will optionally show litter hotspots, including on the timeline
animations.
Derek Pattenson, Webmaster