A positive step forward has been made as 25 electronic road signs across West Northamptonshire will display anti-littering messages until the end of May. Using electronic road signs to display encouraging messages is something the Northants Litter Wombles first brought to the attention of West Northamptonshire Council in March last year.

A passionate picker of more than three years has spoken out as part of the Tidy Our Town campaign, encouraging fellow dog owners to combine their daily walks with clearing litter – even if it is just one or two pieces each time. Monica De Bokx says she “jumped on the bandwagon” after the Northants Litter Wombles was founded and launched the Daventry Litter Wombles group in March 2021.

Following reports from members of the public to the Chronicle & Echo that fly tips were taking longer to be cleared than expected, West Northamptonshire Council has issued guidance on how best to report these issues to see them resolved swiftly. The best way to alert the Council to a fly tip is by reporting it online and the reporter will be prompted to answer a series of questions.

The Nene Rivers Trust CIO is playing its part in the national Big Spring Clean initiative, which was kickstarted with a litter pick alongside the Northants Litter Wombles on March 17. With one clean up event already hosted at Riverside Retail Park this month, three more are planned before the end of April as an extension of the national campaign.

A dedicated litter picker of seven years, who runs a group in her area of Northampton, urges residents to take pride in where they live and take action against the growing issue. Sally Jordan has been the chairperson of the Ecton Brook Residents Group since 2017, which is also when she started regularly litter picking the area.

Deposit Return Schemes are used all over the world, with the aim of encouraging more people to recycle bottles and cans. Described as ‘reverse vending machines’, customers can get a small portion of the money they paid back if they return and recycle the bottle or can to a collection point.

Not only do the Northants Litter Wombles make a difference to the levels of rubbish we see across the town, but it creates friendships, enhances wellbeing and is a truly inclusive group. In the first part of her interview for the Tidy Our Town campaign, events coordinator Alison McClean shared her journey into litter picking and the importance of educating young people – who she described as “our future”.

In the latest instalment of the Tidy Our Town campaign, the Northants Litter Wombles’ events coordinator wanted to stress the importance of getting young people involved and continuing to educate them. Alison McClean first started litter picking in the summer of 2021, before officially joining the Litter Wombles around three months later in September.

The Northants Litter Wombles work collaboratively with West Northamptonshire Council to ensure littering and fly tipping are tackled across the town. An ongoing partnership sees the Wombles’ distinctive purple litter bags collected once they are filled and left at the roadside.

An admirable nine-year-old hosted a litter pick in her area to mark ‘World Thinking Day’ on February 22. Amelie Mills, who is a year five pupil in the town, was inspired to host her own pick after she celebrated World Thinking Day at school.

Litter picking is a hot topic of conversation at the moment, with the national Great British Spring Clean set to take place from March 15 to 31. In the second instalment of her interview with the Chronicle & Echo for the Tidy Our Town campaign, Northants Litter Wombles founder Nicola Elliott shared the effort put in at this time of year is something they do all year round.

The founder of the Northants Litter Wombles wants to celebrate the more than 84,000 purple bags that volunteers have filled over the past three years, in the third Tidy Our Town campaign story. Nicola Elliott’s litter picking journey began a year before the ‘purple army’ was formed, when she set up her own village group where she lives in West Haddon.

The Tidy Our Town campaign launched yesterday (February 20), which will see the Northants Litter Wombles and Chronicle & Echo fight to combat persistent littering and fly tipping. Each week a new interview will be published with a volunteer or member of the community who feels passionate about the problem and shining a light on the positive work of the Litter Wombles.

The Chronicle & Echo has today (February 20) launched a new campaign in collaboration with the Northants Litter Wombles, to “break the cycle” that has seen littering and fly tipping take a hold on our town. The Northants Litter Wombles group was founded in the midst of the pandemic in early 2021, when dedicated members of the community came together with founder Nicola Elliott to fight an issue they were fed up with seeing.