By Barry Beaton

UNFORTUNATELY Harlow like many other towns is suffering from the increase in fly tipping and litter

As someone who has in the past actively joined in Harlow’s annual litter pick and received  enormous satisfaction in helping restore pride in where we live, I’ve carried on my own litter picks when taking my daily exercise, however in doing so I have like many others got increasingly frustrated at the increase in both tippers and tossers in the town since Covid and decided to turn my anger into action.

I looked online and was heartened to see that up and down the county there are many residential groups united in helping to tackle this problem and seeing there are many using the name Womble ie Marlow Wombles, Aylesbury Wombles, Northants Wombles, Keynsham Wombles to name a few so I thought why not Harlow Wombles.

I then set up the Facebook group Harlow Wombles where like minded residents could share their frustration, thoughts and ideas in Keeping Harlow Tidy, caring for our Environment as well as uniting in lobbying local and national governments for stronger action against the Tippers and Tossers,

I’m delighted to advise in just over a week we have over 50 members and over 60 followers on Twitter with new members joining everyday with many non social media users in the background all wanting to make a difference if it’s just simply reporting fly tipping, exchanging thoughts on solo, family or group picking or just letting off steam it is heartening to know there are many residents who do care and want pride in our town and the deisre to look after our Environment. My personal hate being dog poo bags in bushes and discarded face masks ( which currently is 1.5% of the litter in the UK – how shameful and so easy not to do)

Harlow Council have been very supportive however limited on assistance they can provide due to Covid restrictions but in my experience act very quickly on Fly Tipping reports. They have suggested we apply for a grant from the Civic Pride Fund which is the next step.

I hear a lot of criticism of Harlow Council but I understand there is approximately 1000 rubbish bins in Harlow and I believe twenty teams constantly clearing bins and fly tips so why not give a helping hand, they can’t be following all the tossers and clearing up after them whilst competing against the attitude by some  “ If we didn’t drop our litter you wouldn’t have a job” a very similar to the attitude “You shouldn’t have to do that” ….No we shouldn’t, if it wasn’t for the tossers we wouldn’t have to do it at all !!

Currently considering for the future a website, listening to members suggestions, arranging group picks if wanted by members, hopefully secure a little sponsorship so we can try to bring a little bit of fun into family picking ie who collects the most coke cola cans or energy drink bottles etc ( to be considered after covid restrictions ) but overall promoting the feelings of therapeutic, addictive, inclusive, sense of pride, and fun I certainly get from taking pride in where we live and respecting our precious environment.