11 July 2019 Sun shines on co-operative litter picks

A total of 13 bags of litter have been collected by co-operative colleagues who have been highlighting the impact of working together

Seven colleagues from The Co-operative Food stores in Brighton, Four Marks and Carisbrooke visited road sides and woodland to clear up rubbish as part of Co-op Fortnight (24 June to 7 July).

The national awareness fortnight, aims to show how we can achieve more together than we can in isolation. It highlights how each person’s contribution, however small, helps towards achieving a bigger overall goal and a greater change for good.

All of the stores are part of the regional, independent co-operative – Southern Co-op.

Jade Reed, from Southern Co-op’s store at Sussex University – run in partnership with the Students’ Union, said “As our store backs onto a national park, we thought what better place to support the local community and keep it clean.

“We’ve loved taking part in 30 Days Wild run with the Wildlife Trusts and thought this was a great way to get involved in Co-op Fortnight.”

The three colleagues spent several hours at the woods at Stanmer Park which over looks the South Downs and found piles of rubbish from crisp and chocolate packets to cans of drinks. They collected a total of six bags of rubbish.

Lewis Jenkins, from Southern Co-op’s Carisbrooke High Street store, said: “We found that the majority of rubbish was close to one of the nearby schools and, other than this, the people of Carisbrooke should be very proud of how tidy and relatively litter free the whole area is.

“The bulk of the rubbish was soft drink containers and sweet wrappers. We covered just over five miles and filled six bags. We were really impressed with how well kept the majority of Carisbrooke is.”

Finally, in Four Marks, one colleague devoted the end of her shift to collecting rubbish along a nearby main road. She had already finished litter picking the store car park but the store wanted to do more and ended up collecting an extra bag of litter in just one hour.

Jessica Hughes, Community Investment Manager at Southern Co-op, said: “We always try and do something during Co-op Fortnight but these colleagues used their own initiatives to make a difference.

“These experiences show that you can make a difference even if you just have one hour to spare.”

Colleagues across Southern Co-op are encouraged to volunteer their time throughout the year to make a difference in their local neighbourhood. This forms part of its community engagement programme ‘Love Your Neighbourhood’ which addresses four key social themes – promoting ‘Greener’, ‘Healthier’, ‘Safer’, and ‘More Inclusive’ neighbourhoods.

To find out more about Southern Co-op’s commitment to making a difference, visit www.thesouthernco-operative.co.uk/makingadifference.