Record turnout for County Durham's Big Spring Clean

Once again, we teamed up with LitterFree Durham & Darlington to organise the annual campaign, with eight weeks of litter picking activities taking place across the county.

And what an eight weeks it was!

Volunteer numbers more than double

More than 1,500 volunteers signed up, that's more than double last year's number, and they spent more than 4,600 hours out litter picking, which is also more than double last year's total.

There were more than 250 litter picks, during which volunteers collected more than 3,000 bags of litter.

It was all supported by staff in our civic pride team, who gave out 1,540 pieces of litter picking equipment and made presentations to nearly 1,600 primary school children.

Six drop-in sessions were held in areas including Chester-le-Street, Stanhope and Consett, with volunteers given the opportunity to meet civic pride officers and ask questions before being invited to commit to carrying out a litter pick for an hour each month.

"Thank you for making a difference"

Councillor Mark Wilkes, our cabinet member for neighbourhoods and climate change, said: "It's been a superb year for the Big Spring Clean in County Durham, with volunteers committing a record number of hours to litter picks across the county.

"Once again I'd like to thank everyone who has given up their time to make a real difference in their local communities, and the staff who have worked so hard to bring all of this together in what has been a huge collective effort.

"This year's campaign has inspired people to get out and do great things and it shows just how much people care about their local environment."