Volunteer litter pickers in Bury St Edmunds reveal rubbish finds dating back to 1987 during Great British Spring Clean fortnight
Volunteer litter-picking heroes who have been tidying up Bury St Edmunds found rubbish from last century during their recent efforts.
Ross Britcher and Elizabeth Price revealed their dated finds during Great British Spring Clean fortnight, which runs until Sunday.
The couple have been litter picking problem areas of the town for the past year, giving up a few hours each week.
Ross said: “It all started when we became fed up with seeing the same litter strewn everywhere in town. I discovered West Suffolk Council provide pickers and bags for free, so we both signed up and got started.
“We clean up different locations around Bury and are constantly taking a mental note of new locations that need sorting.
“So far in 2025, we have already picked a staggering 207 bags. Our target is to hit 500 by the end of the year.”
A recent litter pick on a raised bank adjacent to B&Q and the Risbygate Street footpath turned up a few surprises.
Ross said: “We had previously picked this route and noticed lots of cans and bottles along the wall by the Parkway roundabout.
“As we started pulling the rubbish down we noticed there was much more lurking over the wall, where there is a raised ledge lined with trees and bushes. That’s when we realised it was a much larger job and we decided to make a statement for people passing by. We climbed on to the ledge and began dropping the rubbish to street level, creating a gigantic pile of litter. We put some cones at either end for people to pass by safely.
“We were astonished by what we found. Years worth of litter carelessly tossed over the wall, with literally thousands of items buried in the undergrowth. The longer we picked, the older the litter we uncovered.”
Items found included a packet of Nik Naks dated January 2000 and a packet of Walkers smoky bacon crisps dated January 1997, but Ross said there were other older looking packets that were too faded to read.
“I started recognising designs that I hadn’t seen since the 90s,” said Ross. “There were even corroded aluminium cans, which take many decades to show signs of degradation. But above all, we found the same things that we see all over Bury: soft drink cans, beer cans, plastic bottles, disposable vapes and fast-food packaging.”
Meanwhile, during a litter pick in Parkway on Saturday, Ross found a drink can dated 1987 in a bush.
Ross and Elizabeth have launched a GoFundMe page to help their litter picking efforts, with any donations going towards more professional equipment, travel costs and safety equipment, to enable them to work on busier roads. Donate at: https://www.gofundme.com/f/cleaning-up-bury-st-edmunds
Ross runs a monthly group litter pick with the Bury Water Meadows Group on the first weekend every month, to clean up larger green spaces. For more information, email rossbritcher@gmail.com
