Friends of Farningham: Preventing Plastic Pollution – River Darent Litter Pick

Friends of Farningham have received the final figures for the Preventing Plastic Pollution litter pick on the River Darent in March.

Eight of us joined organiser Mark Gallant and his Northwest Kent Countryside Partnership volunteers in litter picking a section of the river between The Lion and the M20 Bridge, as we had done in October of last year.

This time, 1,589 items were collected and placed in 18 bin bags which weighed in at 101.25kgs.

The most items collected were 423 plastic crisp and sweet wrappers and other litter in three figures were 141 plastic drink bottles, 125 items of plastic sheeting and industrial packaging, 165 metal drink cans and 112 bagged dog faeces.

Glass items, shopping bags, food containers, plastic caps and lids and metal aerosol/spray cans accounted for the rest of the collection.

Our October figures had far exceeded a similar litter pick carried out in the River Cray in urban Orpington and the amount of rubbish collected this time around indicates that little has changed in our Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Particularly disappointing is the 112 bags of dog waste; our volunteers continue to pick up these bags in all areas of our village and, sadly, most are deposited by Farningham residents.

As part of the Preventing Plastic Pollution project the Rivers Trust have developed a database and standardised methodology for collecting and recording plastic litter found in and alongside rivers throughout the South East of England.

Details of the PPP initiative, which also involves northern France, can be found on thier website https://data.preventingplasticpollution.com/pages/plan

Cllr. Carol Salmon, Organiser - Friends of Farningham