On Sunday 17 of November some of the regular SusWoT litter pickers helped collect rubbish from the banks of the Avon, just downstream from the Trym where it joins the Avon.
The worst find was a drum of crude oil slowly leaking into the bank.
SusWoT were asked to help with this litter pick as there had been some high tides and there was lots of new rubbish on the bank.
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After a month clearing litter from the streets of Westbury-on-Trym SusWoT went back to clearing the river Trym on Sunday. 11 people worked from 11am to 1:00 pm clearing the Trym river and removing litter from its surrounds. About 16 bags of rubbish were removed but the best find from the river was a scooter found by George. It was very deeply buried in mud but eventually George removed it single handed. His dedication was so great he went home to get a spade to dig it out with.
On Sunday the Trym between the Mill House Pub and the car park at the bottom of Blaise was tackled. Most of the accessible Trym has now been done but there are still sections of Hazel Brook that need to be cleared. Hazel Brook is a tributary of the Trym that runs from Cribbs Causeway, through Henbury, joining the Trym in Blaise Castle Estate.
If you want to help remove litter from Westbury’s streets and paths or help clean up the Trym please email suswot2050@gmail.com. You will be very welcome.
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SusWoT have just finished their most ambitious litter picking exercise ever. For the last four weekends, on Saturday and Sunday they have organised eight litter picks. The popularity of Litter Picking has grown and by the end SusWoT barely had enough equipment to cope with all the litter pickers who turned up.
Steve Tainton taking a rest of a chair found during litter pick 4. It was an exciting litter pick with the police involve regarding one piece of litter.
In all 153 sacks of rubbish were collected and 75 people took part.
For the final two litter picks that started by the Stoke Lane Shops there were more than 20 people who came along to help each time. Afterwards a dozen weary pickers celebrated their achievement over lunch in the Dirty Duck.
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The first SusWoT Westbury Spring Clean was a great success. 16 people took part and spent a couple of hours litter picking the centre of the village. They collected about 20 bags of rubbish.
If you want to help Spring Clean Westbury there are 7 more litter picks you can help with. All picks start at 10 and aim to finish at 12 noon. Email suswot2050@gmail.com if you are interested. All equipment is provided.
| Date | Meeting Point | Post Code |
| | ||
| Sunday 24 March | Westbury War Memorial | BS9 3AA |
| Saturday 30 March | Clover Ground Eastfield Rd end | BS9 4UA |
| Sunday 31 March | Clover Ground Eastfield Rd end | BS9 4UA |
| Saturday 6 April | Northover Rd Henbury Rd end | BS9 3JB |
| Sunday 7 April | Canford Park Main Entrance | BS9 3JW |
| Saturday 13 April | Stoke Lane Shops | BS9 3RL |
| Sunday 14 April | Stoke Lane Shops | BS9 3RL |
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From 22 March until 23 April Keep Britain Tidy are organising The Great British Spring Clean. SusWoT are going to have eight litter picking events over four weekends.
| Date | Start | Finish | Meeting Point | Post Code |
| Saturday 23 March | 10am | 12:00 | Westbury War Memorial | BS9 3AA |
| Sunday 24 March | 10am | 12:00 | Westbury War Memorial | BS9 3AA |
| Saturday 30 March | 10am | 12:00 | Clover Ground Eastfield Road end | BS9 4UA |
| Sunday 31 March | 10am | 12:00 | Clover Ground Eastfield Road end | BS9 4UA |
| Saturday 6 April | 10am | 12:00 | Northover Road Henbury Road end | BS9 3JB |
| Sunday 7 April | 10am | 12:00 | Canford Park Main Entrance | BS9 3JW |
| Saturday 13 April | 10am | 12:00 | Stoke Lane Shops | BS9 3RL |
| Sunday 14 April | 10am | 12:00 | Stoke Lane Shops | BS9 3RL |
If you want to help with any of these litter picks please email suswot2050@gmail.com. Please say which events you are interested in helping with as we only have enough equipment for about 30 people.
Each event will meet at 10 am where people will be briefed on Health and Safety and told where they should litter pick.
All equipment is provided. SusWoT will provide litter pickers, bags for waste and recycling, and bright yellow jackets. Wear sensible footware and gloves if you want. You should not be handling any hazardous litter so gloves are optional.
The starting locations above have been choosen because they are in the middle of the areas we plan to litter pick at each event. So if you live near one of the meeting points it is likely that your street will be litter picked that weekend. We are using the polling districts of Westbury (and Henleaze) as a guide to where we plan to litter pick. Scroll down the list on the website site to find Westbury and Henleaze and you can see the Polling Districts on a map of the ward.
| Meeting Point | Polling District from the map |
| Westbury War Memorial | WEHC |
| Clover Ground Eastfield Road end | WEHE + the area up to Henleaze Lake |
| Northover Road Henbury Road end | WEHA |
| Canford Park Main Entrance | WEHB |
| Stoke Lane Shops | WEHD |
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About 16 SusWoT and Friend’s of Blaise litter pickers turned up at the entrance to Trimside of the Doncaster Road, opposite Badock’s Wood in Southmead to clear that section of the Trym.
The first challange was the large grate that stopped large debris flowing down the Trym, it was so blocked it stopped the water too. Dawn and Vanessa cleared a hole and the water started flowing. The Trym started to flow. Latter George finished the job to produce a beautiful cleared grate with lovely clear water flowing under Doncaster Road into Badock’s Wood.
The Trym itself was full of the usual waste. There were TVs, lots of metal cans, all sorts of plastic items, a vacuum cleaner, pogo stick and masses more. Unfortunately even 16 people working for a couple of hours were unable to get all the rubbbish and about a quarter of the river still needs to be cleaned.
Anthea from Team Southmead brought cakes. As part of the equipment we have there is hand cleaner always available so people were able to eat the cakes, and very good they were too. The dog is Erin, the humans (from the dog) Robert, Liz, Anthea. Ruth, Max, Pete and Alex. There were two piles of rubbish. Bristol Parks collected all the rubbish promptly on Monday morning.
It looks a lot better now!
But there is more to do. The pipe on the left above flows into the Trym and as you can see there is some pollution. This may be due to a misconnection. A misconnection is where a street drain has a sewage pipe from a house connected to it incorrectly. This may happen when a new toilet is added to a house and the plumber adds it to the nearest drain which unfortunately is a street drain and not a sewage drain, it is misconnected.
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There were 13 SusWoT members cleaning up rubbish in Westbury on Sunday 25 November. They were divided into three groups and tackled the Fly-tipping in the woods by the Dingle near Grove Road, the fly-tipping in the woods above the Trym near Vintery Leys and in the nearby estate, and the alleyways and lanes off Canford Lane including all grass areas adjacent and the space by the enormous billboard in the village.
Rubbish collected from the woods near Grove Road, some residents thought we were fly tippers. But I think they are happy now.
In total about 36 sacks of rubbish were collected as well as clothes, tractor tyres, abandoned bikes, car parts, paint, lead acid batteries, full bottles of talc, garden waste, children’s toys, picnic tables, decorators waste and more.
Litter from the team litter picking around Canford Lane
SusWoT works with Bristol Waste who collect the rubbish and recycling SusWoT collect.
If you want to be part of the team trying to clean up Westbury please be in touch.
Andrew and John admiring their collection of litter from the Clover Ground area
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The weather was good on Sunday so a last go at cleaning the Trym took place. Next month it will be normal litter picking!
Motorbike pulled from the Trym
Ten people turned up to clear the Trym and 18 bags of rubbish were collected. But the triumph for the day was getting out the last motor bike. Congratulations to (L to R) Peter, Max, Pete and Andrew for their great work.
Historic fly-tipped rubbish collected by the Trym
Liz with some of the rubbish collected on Sunday. Unfortunately this was not the stuff were were supposed to get! Apparently there is more recent stuff.
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SusWoT was there!
A professional litter picker’s litter picker and a cup of tea
Juice?
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On Sunday 9 September SusWoT cleaners had their celebratory picnic by the Trym.
Look no litter! Jill and Bob have a well earned drink to celebrate the cleaning of the Trym
After the Litter Picks and River Cleans the lower reaches of the Trym are pretty clear of litter and the water looks clear, but there is still not much life and no otters.
About 120 person hours of effort were expended on cleaning the area from the Blaise car park on the Dingle to the Mill House pub. During this time about 2 tonnes of rubbish have been extracted by SusWoTters and then taken away by Bristol Waste. This did include a kitchen sink!
SusWoT are looking to work with Friends of Blaise and Friends of Badock’s to see if they can improve the quality of wildlife in the Trym area from Badock’s Wood to the confluence of the Trym with the Avon.
If you would like to help SusWoT with its litter and river work please be in touch, suswot2050@gmail.com.
A Few of the SusWoT Trym Cleaners with the the kitchen sink
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Litter-picking and cleaning the Trym
Sustainable Westbury On Trym - SusWoT 