By Freshney Comrades tackling historic debris in: ‘River Freshney Day of Action!’
A group of local residents has established a proactive and bold day of action to tackle the debris, and litter in the River Freshney, in a fell swoop to remove as much as possible.
The Freshney Comrades was a project established by the Canoe River Cleaner, known as James, last year, they have separated the Freshney into 5 sections, with pairs monitoring their ‘own section’, reporting back to a central hub with issues, as it is ongoing, the river must be cleared significantly for regular litter picks to occur.
The ‘Day of Action’ will be Saturday, April 1, 2023, and following this they hope locals will be encouraged to ‘do their bit’ and involve more businesses to keep the area pristine.
“It was important to me to spread awareness about the river, Marc Lawless is now a new member, he’s decided to clean from the pumping station to Corporation Bridge as his patch,” James said about introducing Marc to the team.
Marc previously identified the large deposit of trolleys seen on a previous story in Alexandra Dock, now he hopes to claim from the pumping station to Corporation Bridge as his cleanup area.
The council is still responsible for the Riverhead area of the dock.
“The comrades do Alexandra upstream to Laceby, before any litter picks we need to clear the historic litter of the whole area, the litter flows in, so we need a giant litter pick including areas of local businesses adjacent to the water,” James added.
James said the trolleys and other debris, make it sometimes difficult for paddleboarders to use it, he said ‘we are doing our best with help of local businesses to pay further attention to the debris in the water.’
“We are getting professional assistance to help with historic debris so that Marc can do a general litter pick.
“The reason we are doing this is to raise awareness, to be more aware of the trolleys, to get the businesses to work with us, being taken from the sites and ending up in the water,” James said.
“Hopefully we can create something regular moving forward, businesses are invited to take part or get involved, and correspondents will be going to those shortly. Sainsbury’s has embraced the idea so far, and correspondents will be going out to other businesses.”
“ABP is on board, Biffa has reached out to us, Sainsbury’s has, and we would like all other business to as well.” Lyndsey Downes said, who has been involved significantly in the organisation and formation of the action day.
