A PARISH councillor who runs litter picks in his area has backed the Adver’s campaign to clean up the town.

Zachary Hawson, who represents Nythe, Eldene and Liden praised the campaign for highlighting the issue of littering.

He said: “It’s an important campaign and people need to look after their local environment..

Zachary started running his own litter picks in Eldene in 2017.

He said: “I like the local environment to be nice and tidy.

“The turn-out varies a bit but it was really good for the start of the year last time out.

“At the start it was just me, but it’s important because everyone wants to live in a nice and tidy place.”

In the first pick of 2020, Zachary and his team filled up more than 10 bags of litter pulled from just the Meads area of Eldene.

“We do it as much as we can,” he added: “We will be doing another one next month, hopefully around February 22.

“We do find some strange items, they can be quite large. We find scooters and handlebars but without a bike.

“This time we found a bag full of plastic DVD cases which was quite odd.

“The amount of rubbish we picked up last time is pretty standard for the area.

“I think it’s mainly because of the proximity to the shop,” he explained.

Although the parish council doesn’t stage litter picks itself, because he is a member, Zachary and his team are able to use the authority’s equipment.

He told the Adver: “The parish supplies the equipment. And if somebody wants to do their own litter pick we can lend it to them too.

“It’s a case of inspiring more people to look after their areas.

“There are bins in the area,” he said. “But I think you could put in even more and some people will still just create litter.”

The Adver’s campaign is aimed at encouraging people to fight back against the litter that plagues so much of the town.

We’re calling on readers to join or set up litter picks around Swindon and commit to always putting their rubbish into a bin.

With their help, we can clean up the town and make it a more attractive place to live in and visit.

Whether an individual, family, scout group or church, if you want to join us in sprucing up Swindon then get in touch.

If you’d like to get involved, email pete.gavan@newsquest.co.uk. with Let’s Make Litter History in the subject line.