The end of March signals time for British Waterways annual towpath tidy. Clean-up events are held along the various canal networks to spruce them up before the start of the boating season.
The first event in Manchester was held on the Rochdale canal in the city centre and was organised in partnership with Mersey Basin Campaign and the Waterways Trust. A total of 9 representatives from the three organisations attended and they were supported by a group of 10 very enthusiastic volunteers from Eversheds law firm.
Eversheds conducted the litter pick along the towpaths whilst the members from BW removed litter from the canal channel using their litter boat and scoop nets. Volunteers covered the area between locks 88 and 90 (which works out at about 693 metres) and the dedication of Eversheds meant that the whole area was spotless by the end of the event. Various bits of general litter were collected including bottles, cans and food wrappers, with the majority of litter being hundreds of cigarette ends. In total 27 bin bags of litter were collected from the towpath and the channel, which is a great result!
Spotless – not a cigarette end in sight!
Luckily the rain held off during the event and everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves. Everyone agreed how much nicer that stretch of canal looked and a number of passers by commented on what a great job we had done.
A big thank you to British Waterways, Mersey Basin Campaign and the Waterways Trust for helping to organise the event and an even bigger thank you to Eversheds for their enthusiasm, commitment and for making the event such a success.
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