Children have been working hard taking action to encourage people to keep rivers cleaner around South Bristol.
Littering is an ongoing problem in public spaces, and a great deal of this often ends up in our streams. We all know that litter can be unsightly, but there are a range of other problems our streams face when it comes to littering. We need to keep working to reduce litter to keep our waterways healthy, and children of South Bristol have been campaigning to make sure this happens.
Litter poses a danger to wildlife; they can become trapped or injured by the litter, or even ingest items, which can cause health problems, or choking.
Additionally, litter can reduce our water quality. Litter can leach chemicals into the water which are harmful to creatures living there, making it uninhabitable, and ruining these precious aquatic habitats. Not only does this have a negative impact on the wildlife, but the public and future generations will lose the precious green spaces they enjoy visiting.
The impacts of litter in our streams can even be seen on a microscopic scale. Plastics can flow downstream and into the sea, where they can break down over time into microplastics. These tiny particles can be ingested by aquatic animals and have impacts on their health.
Litter can also block drains and pipes which help keep our streams at a safe level; blocking these means increased flooding, which can have serious consequences for people, our homes, and our businesses.
Thankfully, a lot of this can be prevented by taking your litter home with you.
Schools around South Bristol have taken part in our litter campaign. Many children designed some wonderful posters, and our panel at BART chose a winner to feature in our article as part of the campaign. Well done to Lily Fletcher-Wilmut for your amazing design, and thank you to all the children who worked hard on their poster entries.
It’s wonderful to see children caring about this issue, and campaigning to look after our planet.
Thanks to the John Spedan Lewis Foundation for funding this project.
