Volunteers from the Epsom McDonald’s restaurant on the High Street joined together with Epsom & Ewell Borough Council to raise the standard of cleanliness in the town centre. The council and McDonald’s have always conducted regular litter picks throughout the day, but recently made a schedule to ensure their clean ups are as efficient as possible. Between them, they estimate that they collect 12 bags of litter every day from the pavements of the town centre.

2016 marks the sixth year of McDonald’s and Keep Britain Tidy’s ongoing partnership to help combat litter. The campaign continues to encourage local communities to take action and work together to tackle litter in their area, with partnerships like this one. 

Business Manager of the High Street restaurant, Damien Williams, who has been involved in the litter picks said: “We are very happy to be involved in this initiative with Epsom & Ewell Borough Council and look forward to making the town centre as clean a place as possible. The team at McDonald’s take pride in the restaurant surroundings and like to see it looking its best. I would like to thank everyone for all their help so far.”

Epsom & Ewell Council Town Centre Manager, Alanna Coombes, who has also been heavily involved in the partnership, said: “Epsom recently won the national Courtesy Top Town award, because of all the well-mannered people who live here which is lovely. Now, more than ever we want to ensure the town centre is looking its best, so we’re grateful to the council and the McDonald’s staff for their support. This is an important initiative, not only in improving the cleanliness of the town centre, but also in showing how well businesses can work with the council to make Epsom a more pleasant place to shop, work and relax.”

In addition to organising partnerships with local authorities, McDonald’s staff patrol the streets at least three times a day to collect all litter that has been discarded, regardless of its origin. Crew members across the UK cover a total of 3,000 miles each week on litter patrols, which equates to 150,000 miles a year and the distance of five marathons each year per store.

Keep Britain Tidy chief executive Allison Ogden-Newton said: "To win the war on litter everyone needs to work together, with businesses having an exciting part to play. McDonald’s Love Where You Live initiative, together with their day-to-day commitment to tackling the problem through their litter patrols and their ongoing support Keep Britain Tidy, is an example of how a business can make a real difference."

Since McDonald’s began supporting the ‘Love Where You Live’ campaign in 2010, over 1,900 events and activity days have been organised by restaurant staff in the UK, involving over 57,000 volunteers. In England specifically, 2015 saw 269 events take place with a total of 11,371 people taking part.
Article supplied by Lucy Turner