Litter Picking with LUU
Making Leeds a Litter Free City
Tired of the rubbish in the local Hyde Park area and wish there was more you could do to help?
Become a part of a movement with over 2,800 volunteers towards enabling a Litter Free Leeds. Every small individual step adds up towards a greener and cleaner future in our city, and we want to empower you by giving you the tools and the support you need to become an eco-conscious member of your community.
Together, we can make a difference.
Get involved
“Litter picking is such a quick and easy activity that has an immediate and noticeable impact on both the environment and my wellbeing – I enjoy walking through Hyde Park a lot more when the streets aren’t covered in rubbish!” – Coco, 2nd year Spanish and International Relations student
LUU Student Activities have litter picking equipment you can borrow whenever you feel like doing your bit for our community. All you have to do is leave your name to sign out the equipment and provide a date you will return it.
Head up to the Student Activities Helpdesk on Level 1 of the LUU building, opposite the Rep Room, and borrow:
- Litter pickers
- Purple Litter Free Leeds bin bags (these can be left next to any public black bin, and the council will collect them)
- High visibility jackets (if you are doing the litter pick as a group)
Litter pick as a society
If you are a society keen to get your members involved in cleaning up the local community, please email e.noble@leeds.ac.uk with your society’s name, the number of members who will be partaking in the litter pick and the date of when you will need to collect the litter picking equipment.
Please note: we will need 5 working days notice for these larger society picks to make sure we have enough equipment for everyone.
Top tips
- Take a look at our litter picking calendar here. If there are any other picks which take place in the local Hyde Park area, please feel free to add them in.
- Plan your route. Sometimes it is better to cover a small area – you’ll be surprised how much litter you will find along the way, and you won’t have to overstretch yourself.
- Take “before” and “after” photos of the area you cover, as well as some photos of yourself, your friends and the amount you have collected once you have finished. These photos can be shared with the Activities team by emailing them to e.noble@leeds.ac.uk, or posted in the LS6 Litter Pickers Facebook Group to celebrate you cleaning up the local area.
- Go one step further and get involved in our community litter picks. These occur monthly – see when the next one is coming up here. Community litter picks are a great way to meet new people, and we always finish off with a free coffee and cake in a local independent coffee shop.
Join our litter picking working group. We meet once a month and are always keen to have more voices and brains to increase litter picking and get more students and societies involved. If you are interested in getting involved, please email l.ram@leeds.ac.uk.
Stay safe
- We recommend wearing gloves.
- The litter pickers have a magnet attached at the end of the grabber to provide ease when collecting litter.
- Ensure you pop all litter into the purple bin bag. Tie it up and drop it next to the nearest public bin as soon as it becomes full and heavy.
- Do not collect broken glass. This is a major health and safety risk.
- If you choose to collect glass on your litter pick, please bear in mind that this must be collected in a separate bin bag and dropped off at your nearest local bottle bank as purple bags with glass in them will not be collected.
