‘Leeds Goes Purple’ makes an impact in the fight against litter

A community led campaign saw hundreds of volunteers take positive action to tackle the scourge of littering across Leeds over the weekend and helped turn Leeds purple.

Litter Free Leeds, a community movement which works closely with Leeds City Council all year round, harnessed the power of volunteers, business, and organisations to pick up litter and tidy up neighbourhoods and roadsides across the city.

The 'Leeds Goes Purple' weekend has now become an annual event and this year Litter Free Leeds volunteers organised over 30 group litter picks across the city, bringing hundreds of people together to collect hundreds of purple bags of rubbish and waste from all over Leeds.

The council supplies the distinctive and easily recognisable purple bags, as well as arranging for their safe collection from roadsides across the city.

Litter Free Leeds started in 2017 to help bring communities, organisations, and like-minded individuals together as positive role models and to help change the behaviour of litter louts who don't seem to realise or care about the impact they have on the environment.

With over 4,500 volunteers, Litter Free Leeds activity spreads city-wide, making a vital impact in the city’s communities and public areas.

Speaking about litter during the ‘Leeds Goes Purple’ weekend, Sandra Mclean coordinator of Litter Free Leeds, said:

“The weekend has been a great success and you can safely say Leeds has gone purple, with hundreds of volunteers hitting the streets to help keep our communities clean. I would like to thank everyone who picked up a litter grabber this weekend and took part!

“Litter Free Leeds was born from a meeting of like-minded volunteers back in 2017 and we have gone from strength to strength since, bringing people from across Leeds together in the aim of keeping our communities clean, with this weekend being another great example of the impact that volunteers can have on communities.

“If you’d like to join ‘Litter Free Leeds’, then please make contact with us through our website or Facebook page.”

Councillor Mohammed Rafique, Leeds City Council's executive member for environment and housing, said:

“I would like to say a big thank you to the many residents and community groups who took part this weekend to help make a difference and to make a statement against the minority of people who litter our streets and green spaces.

“Leeds Goes Purple is an important community-led weekend that the council is pleased to be part of and support since its inception, and it was great to see our staff working alongside volunteers across Leeds to keep our communities clean.

“The council is always keen to support community clean ups and local litter groups and will always welcome the challenge of ensuring that we keep up with the hundreds of Litter Free Leeds purple bags being filled each week by volunteers and left by litter bins and laybys for collection.”

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