Dorset residents rose to the challenge of ridding the county of litter during June.

A total of 120 people took part in a month-long litter picking challenge in their local areas.

Alongside the choice of creating their own challenge, three challenges were suggested by Litter Free Dorset.  Over two thirds of participants took part in a 10 times challenge, where they litter picked their local area 10 times over during the month. Other participants opted for the 10 minutes daily challenge. Some signed up and completed a staggering 10-hour challenge, where they litter picked for 10 hours over the course of one day. In total volunteers collected approximately one ton of litter – the equivalent weigh of a baby humpback whale.

The most common form of litter was confectionary and food packets. Other plastic items such as disposable PPE, plastic drinks bottles and wet wipes were also very abundant.

Preventing Plastic Pollution researcher, Amanda Arnold said: “We are really grateful to the volunteers for taking part in the LFD challenge. It was really inspiring to see the stories and pictures posted online and it’s remarkable how much litter was collected.  The completed litter survey forms will enable the PPP project to get a grasp on where, how much and what types of litter are accumulating in Dorset’s river catchments. This data makes a big difference as it will help us develop a tool to predict litter hotspots.”

Sophie Colley, Litter Free Dorset coordinator said: “A big thank you to all 120 litter legends who took part in the June Litter Free Dorset challenge. We hope you all enjoyed your adventure and we have loved seeing your progress pictures on the challenge Facebook Page. We hope you are inspired to continue your litter picking efforts post challenge.”

As part of the challenge, participants were able to raise money for Litter Free Dorset, a community campaign to reduce litter across the county hosted by Dorset Council.