Love Your Park

We are again running our anti-littering campaign over the next few months and into the summer to encourage residents to ‘Love Your Park’.

The campaign aims to encourage people to put litter in the park bins or take it home – and will promote three quick ways to report full bins for emptying.

As the weather gets warmer, more and more people will be taking advantage of Reading’s beautiful parks and open spaces. Whilst we are keen to encourage everyone to enjoy the benefits of getting out into nature, the potential for litter in parks increases.

The last two years have seen an unprecedented increase in the use of parks and open spaces nationally during the pandemic. This trend was seen locally in Reading across all parks. At the same time, the Council’s street and park cleansing team saw a big increase in the amount of litter they were collecting. Litter spoils the environment for everyone. Not only does it look awful, it attracts rats, is potentially a health hazard and can harm wildlife.

There are almost 400 bins across Reading’s parks which are regularly emptied by the Council’s park cleansing team, running a seven day a week service. Major parks like Prospect and Palmer Parks have bins emptied daily, with the majority of the other parks at least three times a week.

Stickers have been added to park bins promoting three easy ways to report full bins, including:

• Report overflowing bins using the ‘Love Clean Reading’ phone app and website
• via social media @ReadingCouncil
• Using the QR code on the sticker to access an online form

We will be also be promoting the ‘Love Your Park’ message around the borough with banners featuring real residents who support anti-littering. Children around Reading have also contributed ‘Love Your Park’ poster designs, which will be shared on social media.

Get involved

The Council’s popular Reading Adopt Your Street (RAYS) programme enables companies, individuals, community groups and organisations, such as schools and youth groups to select a street, open space, footpath, park or shopping area to keep tidy through regular clean-ups. RAYS Volunteers are provided with litter pickers, 100% recycled plastic bags, gloves and hi-vis jackets. We hope more individuals and local groups will sign up to litter pick their local park over the coming months.