Every litter helps!

It was a very special session yesterday in Wandsworth as it was the beginning of The Great Big Green Week - the UK's biggest ever celebration of community action to tackle climate change and protect nature.

We decided one of the best ways we as a group can help contribute to this was by working to get rid of the litter on our streets. A few facts:

• Litter harms our environment. Toxic materials or chemicals in rubbish finds its way into waterways, woods,seas and just about everywhere else, polluting our land, forest areas, soils, aquatic environments and even entering our food chain
• It spreads diseases, leading to poisoning of both humans and animals
• The cost of cleaning up litter means that government funds are diverted away from people that need it
• Plastic is a leading form of litter. In 2015, National Geographic reported that there were 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic debris in the ocean

No more encouragement was needed! We even had the benefit of a set of excellent (foldable - so we could run with them!) new litter pickers thanks to a grant from the council. Thanks so much Wandsworth! We were raring to go.

To make the evening even more of a celebration of all things sustainable, we got to welcome some lovely new faces to the group. Please give a huge GoodGym cheer to Matt, Ben, Caroline, Sara, and Alexandra who all joined for the first session with great energy!

If you're inspired and you'd like to join in with any of the other Great Big Green Week activities in Wandsworth, you can check out what's going on right here.

We divided up into two groups, walking and running, but before we set off we did a quick warm up and all said one thing we were either doing or pledged to do in our bid to be greener. From taking the train and bikes instead of flying and cars, composting and more composting, to reducing our reliance on plastic bottles - we're all doing our bit.

As the walking group set off, bags in hand and pickers aloft, the running group did a little warm up and then headed in the same direction. As soon as we started to look for it, it was impossible not to see the litter that was hiding in bushes, strewn across pavements and bridges, and dumped in corners. The hope is that by doing a tidy up like this that it will encourage people to feel proud of where they live, to keep it clean and to encourage a change in behaviour for the more sustainable!

The pickers came in extremely useful and before long we had many bags brimming with bottles, cans, crisp packets and the dreaded dog poo bags. The worst!

There was just time for a group photo before we all headed back to base. The problem was that we now couldn't help spotting all the rubbish still to be collected! Looks like we're going to have to set up another session pretty soon.

We finished off the night with an optional fitness session at the BAC. Tough going in the heat but you smashed all the sprints (I can't believe you opted for hill sprints - very impressive!), squats and planks.

Next week we're going to Paradise cooperative garden to help out and there is also a mission to help set up tables for a community day on Saturday as well as a task with Beautify Balham later that morning. Not to mention the GoodGym-wide summer rounders match!

Well done on making a real difference in our area, and a very happy Great Big Green Week to you all!