Community litter picking

There is information on this page on how you can help safely with litter picking in the New Forest district.

Groups and organised events

We can help people who want to volunteer to organise a litter pick on behalf of a group.

This could be a beach clean or a tidy-up of your local neighbourhood, park or school.

We can lend litter picking equipment, including litter grabbers and hi-vis vests.

We can also supply sacks, and if needed, collect the rubbish from an agreed location after the event.

Litter pick organisers and volunteers are not working for or acting on behalf of the council. They are not covered by the council's Liability Insurance.

Plan your community litter pick

Before organising a community litter pick, it's important to know who owns the land.

We can provide this information if requested through the litter picking support request form.

The legal responsibility of properly disposing of any litter or fly-tips on the property lies with the landowner.

If you plan to conduct a litter pick on private land, make sure to get the landowner's permission and ensure that they are willing to dispose of the refuse that your volunteers collect.

If we suspect that the waste has been taken from private land, we may decide not to collect bags, as this is not our responsibility.

Groups are requested to arrange a collection location with us using the litter picking support request form.

Health and safety guidance

Your safety and that of your volunteers comes first. We can only provide support for community litter picking activity that complies with our health and safety guidance.

Read the Health and safety guidance for community litter picking

It is the litter pick organiser's responsibility to brief all volunteers on the guidance, and ensure it is followed by everyone taking part throughout the duration of the litter pick.

Support for litter picking

We can help your litter pick by providing the following support.

• lending litter grabbers and hi-vis vests for volunteers (maximum 30 per group)
• providing black and clear rubbish sacks for the litter (maximum 2 rolls of each per group)
• providing a health and safety guidance sheet for all volunteers (We will provide you with a PDF and it is your responsibility to share this with your group)
• collecting the rubbish sacks after your litter pick from an agreed location.

Request support for a community litter pick 

We cannot lend any equipment long term or provide support for unplanned litter picks. We have a limited supply of litter equipment so please return promptly when you're finished.

Please do not email or call for support until you have completed the request form.

Our resources are limited, so we cannot guarantee that we can support your litter pick.

We'll be in touch within ten working days to confirm whether we can provide support for your litter pick.

Submitting a request does not automatically confirm we can support you.

Any support is given entirely at our discretion.

If you are carrying out a litter pick using your own equipment, you and your group can take a small amount of waste home and leave it with your household waste on your normal kerbside collection day.

Local and national litter picking resources 

Below are some examples of local and national litter picking resources:

• Solent Plastics Pollution Hub (solentforum.org), a part of The Solent Forum, the Solent Plastics Pollution Hub provides information and resources to support people across the Solent to litter pick and tackle plastic pollution
• Keep Britain Tidy (keepbritaintidy.org), a national charity which runs volunteer projects and campaigns to eliminate litter, and waste, and improve places
• CleanupUK (cleanupuk.org.uk), a national charity which provides information and support to litter picking volunteers 

You may also find information and local community litter picking groups by searching online search engines and social media groups.