- McDonald’s sign four year partnership with Mayor’s Capital Clean-up
- Supporting community clean up events with cash grants and tool kits
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, is calling on local communities to join this year’s Capital Clean-up, and help tackle litter, rubbish and graffiti in their local parks, streets, estates, residential areas and waterways.
The Mayor’s Capital Clean-up campaign, in partnership with McDonald’s, is inviting community groups and local businesses to apply for grants of up to £500, or a special litter picking clean-up kit, to bring volunteers together in rubbish clearing events to create cleaner, greener, and safer local environments.
From litter-picking in a Havering park, to graffiti removal in Merton or a new garden outside a Lambeth school, Capital Clean-up, now in its sixth year, has already helped thousands of Londoners to get together and hold clean-up events to smarten up their neighbourhood.
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson said, “Bringing people together to roll up their sleeves and tackle litter and mess in their communities can make the world of difference, giving areas a mini facelift and making them more enjoyable for locals and visitors alike. I hope as many people as possible get involved in Capital Clean Up and help boost community pride by keeping our great city tidy and litter free.”
With the long term support of McDonalds, Capital Clean-up aims to reach out to as many community groups as possible, providing the support they need to host clean-up events in their neighbourhoods. The Mayor and McDonalds aim to attract 10,000 ‘clean up local champions’ volunteers by summer 2016.
This summer there are more than 60 clean-up kits available to give communities the tools they need to get local residents involved and help make a difference. Each one includes litter pickers, tabards, bin bags and a £50 voucher to help provide new planting and painting, and create litter and graffiti free streets and parks.
McDonalds has entered into a four year partnership with the Mayor’s Capital Clean-up programme and will be taking part with a series of clean-up events around their restaurants across the capital.
Katie Parker, Head of Environment at McDonald’s UK said: “We’re committed to taking action on litter and by partnering with Capital Clean-Up, we hope to encourage Londoners to come together to help clean up their local areas. Our restaurant teams across London take great pride in their city and have already organised over fifty anti-litter events this year.”
In the recent spring Capital Clean-up campaign, 1560 volunteers took part in 77 events and collected over a thousand sacks of litter, 55 tonnes worth of fly-tipping, and helped freshen up around 240 thousand square metres of the capital.
Jennifer Amos applied for a clean-up kit for ‘Friends of Bedfords Park’ in Havering this spring. In just one day and with the help of 13 volunteers, they transformed 75 thousand square metres of land in a local nature reserve.
Jennifer said: “We were all very impressed with the Clean-Up kits, they are good quality and really helped with our litter picking. Our park is a registered Local Nature Reserve and attracts lots of visitors, enjoying the scenery, biodiversity and having picnics. Luckily we have lots of eager volunteers willing to get involved and play their part to keep it clean and safe. With the help of the kits, and the volunteers, we will continue making our park a litter free environment and it’s thanks to the Mayor and to the Capital Clean Up team and the kits for making it all happen.”
Notes to editors
Notes to Editors:
- For more information about the Mayor’s Capital Clean-up, please visit www.london.gov.uk/capitalclean-up or contact [email protected]
- Capital Clean-up is the Mayor’s programme to encourage communities and boroughs to take action to tackle litter on Greater London’s streets, parks, and waterways and is part of the Mayor’s Team London initiative.
- This autumn, 35 cash grants of £500 each and 65 Clean-up kits will be awarded to volunteer groups helping to clean-up their area. In total there are £10,000 worth of clean-up kit on offer and £17,500 for grants.
- The campaign works in conjunction with Groundwork, Keep Britain Tidy, Thames 21, London Probation Services and London boroughs to deliver volunteer clean-ups across the capital.
- McDonalds is the chosen delivery partner for the Mayor’s Capital Clean-up Campaign.
- McDonalds has been working hard since 1982 to reduce the amount of litter on Britain’s streets and was the first restaurant to introduce ‘Litter Patrols’ in the UK. McDonald’s employees already undertake three litter patrols every day in the streets, collecting any litter they see in and around the restaurants.There are 184 McDonald’s restaurants in London
- McDonalds restaurants have run 45 organised local clean up events in London this year, involving 700 staff volunteers and almost 800 local volunteers.
- For more information on initiatives McDonald’s already has in place for nationwide litter management visit: www.mcdonalds.co.uk/ourworld/environment/litter.shtml
- Community spirited volunteers were one of the highlights of summer 2012. The Mayor wants to drive even more Londoners to do something great for their city by joining Team London and volunteering in their local community. To search for opportunities or to sign up to receive updates of new volunteering opportunities go to london.gov.uk/teamlondon/register-for-updates
- Team London was inspired by Mayor Bloomberg's Cities of Service model. Cities of Service was founded by Mayor Bloomberg and 16 other Mayors from across the United States to help them leverage citizen service strategies to address local needs and make local government more effective, Cities of Service builds on the success of the initiative in New York City (www.nycservice.org.uk). The coalition now includes more than 100 mayors representing nearly 50 million Americans. Team London is the first initiative based on City of Service model outside of the United States. The programme gained valuable insights from Cities of Service and, with support of Bloomberg LP, funding from the Reuben Foundation, and input from over 130 external organisations, a plan for London and Londoners was created.
- To sign up to Team London please go to www.london.gov.uk/teamlondon/register-for-updates.