Love Where You Live Campaign

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On Saturday the 6th October we took to the streets of Birmingham with a group of volunteers to take part in a Love Where You Live clean up event, organised by McDonald's.

Leading up to the event, we asked you to vote for an area of Birmingham that was in need of a clean-up. Votes came in over the course of a week and Temple Row was voted as the location of focus.

It was a rainy, Autumnal day in Birmingham on the 6th of October. We were up bright and early and caught a taxi into town. Neve had been looking forward to the event and it felt like a real adventure as we headed into the city for breakfast. Broad Street was quiet. We walked around past the Library and down to Temple Row.

Temple Row is a busy thoroughfare in central Birmingham. Standing proud within the grounds of a gated, grassy area is St Philips Cathedral, dating back from the 18th century. It has trees around the perimeter, benches to sit and enjoy the spot along with lots of bins to dispose of rubbish - but are the bins being used? McDonald's is just a stone throw away from here and located on Cherry Street. This is where we headed to meet the team.

We were welcomed at McDonald's and headed through to their staff room. We held a meeting about the event. Franchisee Dean Chapman was also present. It was fantastic to meet him and it was very evident that he was passionate about the area and keeping the streets clean and tidy.

Dean expressed to us that - 'moving forward he wants to do more with the local community and continue to find ways to support and engage with them'. He also shared with us how they have dedicated litter patrols that take place around the area of McDonald's 3 times a day, to help keep on top of any litter that isn't disposed of correctly.

Once all of the volunteers had piled in, we popped on our waterproofs, the McDonald's clean up tabards and then with a littler pick and a rubbish bag in hand we were ready to set off and make a difference to the local area.

The Autumn leaves were falling. Along with lots of rain, but we had a job to do. Our clean-up was underway. We took separate directions within the grounds on Temple Row in order to cover as much ground as possible. Neve did a great job of moving the Autumn leaves on a mission to discover the rubbish that was hidden underneath. Children are the best at tasks like this, because they have a burning desire to find a surprise. She came over for my rubbish bag holding all sorts of random items on the end of her pick stick! It amused me as I kept thinking - 'only Neve'.

We discovered so much glass, empty cartons and wrappers of all kinds! Together we picked up thousands of cigarette ends. Keep Britain Tidy discovered that cigarette related items were the most littered item, ranking top spot in their annual survey.

Litter is a real issue across the country. Keep Britain Tidy discovered that across 7,000+ locations as many as 14% were heavily littered which is an increase on 10% when the same survey was carried out in 2014/2015. It shows an increase of 40%. Britain's litter problem is getting worse and more and more sites are being spoiled by unacceptable waste. It also poses a real risk to our communities and the welfare of animals.

As families who are out and about visiting shopping centres, parks and public spaces we notice litter because we need to be aware of potential hazards around our children. We teach our children to not drop littler and act as positive role models showing them how to dispose of waste correctly - even if that means holding onto rubbish until we get back home.

McDonald's UK is committed to environmental practises and have been working closely with Keep Britain Tidy as part of its 12 year anti-littering campaign ‘Love Where You Live’. To try to stop litter before it happens McDonald's supports Keep Britain Tidy, with their interventions and education to persuade people to bin their rubbish and recycle.

McDonald’s encourages local communities to take action and work together to tackle litter in their area.

Not only that but, McDonald’s UK has been powering its delivery fleet with recycled bio-diesel from cooking oil for 10 years. And you may have seen testing of paper straws in restaurants too, helping to reduce the amount of plastic used.

The litter pick took us around a square, we had a map to follow that was created by Jasmin who has worked at McDonald's for several years. She led the team around and it was a real pleasure talking to them as we ventured around Birmingham, filling our bags of rubbish. We were greeted by members of the public who shouted 'you're doing great, keep up the good work!'.

We had managers from local shops come out to us and say"you're doing an amazing job guys thank you". It highlighted to me that in the eyes of all, litter is a problem and seeing a group of people - out there tackling it head on - it was appreciated.

Doing something for the community like this brought great satisfaction to me. Neve also walked around talking about the animals she was helping by picking up broken glass and sharp pieces of metal with her litter picker. As a group we collected 12 bags of rubbish.

Members of the public approached some of the McDonald's staff to ask how they could be involved with helping them on litter picks in the future.

It was honestly a very positive experience for us as a family and we enjoyed talking to the local community and members of staff from McDonald's. It is a cause we are passionate about, particularly when it comes to the local wildlife.

Today we did something for the community and you know what? It felt great! I would like to thank the team that we worked with today for giving us the opportunity to help make a difference.

“This post is part of a paid project with McDonald’s UK and BritMums, promoting McDonald’s Love Where You Live campaign encouraging local communities to take action and work together to tackle litter in their area.”