Ely litter pickers unite to clean up the city

The Ely Litter Pickers is a Facebook group consisting of concerned Ely residents.

Miroslava Katsur, 29, started the group – which has so far managed to recruit more than 200 members – on January 31.

She says that she and her partner initially began picking up rubbish themselves at the Roswell Pits nature reserve.

“We went there and within 30 minutes we’d filled two large binbags,” recalled Miroslava, “and I thought, ‘That’s two much litter, I need someone to help us’. So I thought, ‘Let’s start a group, maybe 10 people will join us’ – and it’s actually exploded!”

Miroslava continued: "Due to lockdown, we cannot gather - it's not a good idea to gather until we all get vaccinated and lockdown is lifted. So the idea I decided to adopt is just to assign streets and areas to people. I ask them if they want to do a particular area and they say, ‘Okay, I'll do my street’, or an area they fancy.

"Some people, especially dog owners or parents, they like to go around and pick as they go, and basically people do it solo or in their bubble. But hopefully after the lockdown we can gather and have socials and large litter picks."

For more information, visit facebook.com/groups/elylitterpicking.

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