Anglers join the Great British Spring Clean to help clear litter from our rivers, lakes and seas

Anglers are being urged to roll up their sleeves and help to clear litter from Britain’s waterways during the Great British Spring Clean, which runs from Friday 21st March to Sunday 6th April.

The Angling Trust has pledged the support of its Anglers Against Litter volunteers to the Great British Spring Clean initiative, which is run by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, and is inviting the angling community to help remove litter from their local rivers, lakes and beaches.

From Monday 31st March to Sunday 6th April, we will also be running our Anglers Against Litter Week to highlight the fantastic work that anglers, clubs and fisheries are doing to protect our aquatic environments and to encourage the angling community to support the Great British Spring Clean.

There are many ways anglers can get involved:

1. If you are a club or fishery, organise a litter pick and share your experience and photographs with us so we can promote your good work through our social media channels. Details of how to do this can be found here.
2. If you are a sea angling club you can apply for free litter picking kits and Anglers National Line Recycling Scheme (ANLRS) bins as part of our Anglers Against Litter – Reeling in Change project, funded by the Marine Management Organisation’s Fisheries and Seafood Scheme. Litter kits include Anglers Against Litter High Viz vests and litter pickers made from recycled fishing nets. If you can commit to at least two litter picks per year and share your litter-picking photos with us, please send us an email with your club details to [email protected]
3. Through our Anglers Against Litter campaign, we are also encouraging anglers to make a pledge to Take 5 every time they go fishing – by spending five minutes to pick up litter after they have been fishing, anglers will remove a huge amount of litter from the environment and protect fish and wildlife from harm.
4. Recycle old fishing lines and spools through the Anglers National Line Recycling Scheme. You can find further information here.

Our Anglers Against Litter campaign is sponsored by Shimano and supported by The Insurance Emporium who are passionate about protecting the environment.

Dr Emily Smith, Angling Trust Environment Manager said:

“We encourage everyone to get involved in the Great British Spring Clean and our Anglers Against Litter Week which gives the opportunity for the angling community to take coordinated action to tackle litter and showcase the efforts that anglers make throughout the year to help to protect our aquatic environments. Every bag or rubbish collected over the next two weeks can make a huge difference to the environment and help protect fish and fishing.”

To find out more about the Anglers Against Litter campaign and other ways to support action to tackle litter, visit the Angling Trust website.