A special thank you from our CEO

Celebrating our incredible volunteers

Saturday 5 December marks the United Nations’ International Volunteer Day – a worldwide moment to thank volunteers and showcase their efforts. And, as we come to the end of a difficult year, the United Nations’ chosen theme for 2020, #TogetherWeCan, certainly resonates.

Amid all the uncertainty, fear and frustration, there have been flickers of hope and positivity during the pandemic. For me, one silver lining has been a strong feeling of solidarity and ‘togetherness’. Unsurprisingly, volunteers have been at the heart of this positive response in Wales.

Across the country new and existing volunteers have stepped up to help care for their neighbours and their communities, showing incredible dedication, compassion and resilience.

The impact of our volunteers

Throughout the pandemic, Keep Wales Tidy volunteers have continued to litter pick in their local areas, helping to keep outdoor spaces clean and safe for us all to enjoy.

The numbers speak for themselves.

Since March, our Litter Champions, community groups and hub visitors have devoted more than 14,000 hours to looking after our environment. Together, they have collected a staggering 17,000 bags of rubbish and recycling.

We were also blown away by the support for Autumn Clean Cymru. Although it was very different to our usual campaigns, more than 1,100 volunteers took part in nearly 200 socially distanced clean-ups. And, excitingly, we know that a lot of the litter heroes who joined in were volunteering with us for the very first time.

Diolch - thank you

On behalf of everyone at Keep Wales Tidy, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank our volunteers – from clean-up newcomers to seasoned Litter Champions. You have all gone above and beyond this year and we are so grateful for your support.

Bring on 2021, because #TogetherWeCan