Great British Spring Clean 2021

What is the Great British Spring Clean?

Keep Britain tidy. This is the motto for the Great British Spring Clean, which is the country’s largest clean-up initiative. This event takes place for roughly two weeks every year and results in the clearing of more than 4,300 tonnes of litter and trash across Britain. This year’s edition of the Great British Spring Clean will take place from Friday 28 May-Sunday 13 June 2021.

Many of us of a certain age will recall the Keep Britain Tidy campaign. This “resolution” began with the National Federation of Women’s Institutes in 1954. Organisations across the country have been dedicated to keep Britain clean for decades, and the Great British Spring Clean is another example of this. It is a roughly two-week span of the year dedicated to picking up trash and litter to improve public spaces, reduce waste, and educate future generations on doing the same.

The campaign runs alongside the Great Big School Clean also run by Keep Britain Tidy.

The 2021 event theme is the Million Mile Mission where the organisers hope to encourage people to clean up to one million miles of litter! Due to the pandemic the 2020 event was held 11-27 September while the 2019 campaign was for a whole month between 22 March-23 April … so the dates do appear rather erratic. The bet advice I can give is to check back here later to keep up to date with the 2022 dates and beyond.

Who Founded the Great British Spring Clean?

The Great British Spring Clean was founded by the Keep Britain Tidy organisation. This organisation has created numerous national campaigns to end litter and littering. The first National Spring Clean Day took place in 1989, followed by the Big Tidy Up in 2008. This event is now larger than ever, taking place for more than two weeks per year and drawing hundreds of thousands of volunteers. The country’s biggest ever, mass-action environmental campaign is now known as the Great British Spring Clean.

How to Get Involved

You can become a part of the Great British Spring Clean this year. Log onto the KeepBritainTidy.org website to pledge the number of minutes and hours you will dedicate to picking up litter during the Great British Spring Clean.

Other ways to take part in the Great British Spring Clean include:

• Donate to the Keep Britain Tidy organisation
• Create your own fundraising the Keep Britain Tidy organisation or other missions to clear litter from Britain’s parks, roads, and more
• Learn about other Keep Britain Tidy campaigns, like the Great Big School Clean and Love Parks Week, and take part in them also
• Share photos of your adventures litter picking with the hashtags #GBSpringClean and #MillionMileMission. Don’t forget to tag @keepbritaintidy
• Join the active community of volunteers on the Litter Heroes Facebook Group

Littering Across Britain

The goal of the Great British Spring Clean and all efforts performed by the Keep Britain Tidy organisation is to eliminate litter across Britain. Many people litter without even thinking they’re doing so. This includes not accidentally leaving a coffee cup behind on a park bench, disposing of cigarettes in the correct place, and always picking up your pet’s waste. Another major issue with littering in Britain is fly-tipping, the term used to describe dumping waste illegally.

Interesting Facts About Littering and the Great British Spring Clean

• The Keep Britain Tidy organisation has helped reduce public pet waste by roughly 77 percent
• Humans drop more than 30 million tonnes of litter every year
• Nearly €1 billion in tax dollars is used to pick up litter every year
• 2.9 million small animals die per year in littered cans and bottles
• Highways England collects roughly 7,500 tons of litter from roadways each year