This month the NG11 Clean Champions are talking about Keep Britain Tidy (KBT).
It all started in 1954 when The National Federation of Women’s Institutes (WI) passed a resolution to “Keep Britain Tidy” and the rest, as they say, is history.
In 1960 Keep Britain Tidy was registered as a charity and the “Tidyman” logo was introduced and was used on packaging and advertisements.
Celebrities of the 70’s Abba, Jack Warner; Dixon of Dock Green, Coronation Street cast, the Bee Gees and our adorable furry friends The Wombles, to name a few, helped to promote the message.
In 1977 Clean for The Queen was launched, for Her Majesty’s Silver Jubilee.
In the 80s Blue Flag Awards were introduced across England celebrating the best beaches and the then existing charity Waste Watch in 1987, encouraged us all to reduce, re-use and recycle our waste. Two years later in 1989 the two charities merged, giving us today’s Keep Britain Tidy.
In the 90’s The Environmental Protection Act defined acceptable standards of street cleanliness for the first time. KBT introduced People and Places Awards, The Seaside and Green Flag Awards and the Eco-Schools programme for England was launched.
RiverCare was launched in 2001 and in 2005 The Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Acts introduced fixed penalty notices for littering.
From 2010 a number of campaigns were launched: “No such thing as a dog poo fairy” advertisement reminded dog owners that they are responsible for cleaning up their dog mess, BeachCare and WatersideCare.
At the 2012 Olympics, as the Olympic torch was “ran” around the country, people showed the world that they “love where they live”, cleaning the route ahead of the torch.
LoveMyBeach was launched in 2013 for North West’s beaches.
In 2014 another ‘We’re Watching You’ poster was aimed at reducing dog fouling.
Her Majesty’s 90th birthday in 2016 encouraged us to “Clean for the Queen” and in 2017 the Government launched the first litter strategy.
Over 374,000 wonderful #LitterHeroes took part in the 2018 Great British Spring Cleaning 2019 an amazing 560,000 #LitterHeroes turned out. And as you’re reading this the 2020 campaign will be coming to an end.
In the meantime, please love where you live, keep NG11 litter free and join the effort when you can!
– Written by Alma Davies – Email: [email protected] Tel: 07764442835
