IPSWICH is bucking the trend of the East of England which has been labelled as having the worst litterbugs in the country.The Suffolk town is showing it is the exception to the rule and has been shortlisted for being the tidiest town in the country in the Clean Britian Awards.
IPSWICH is bucking the trend of the East of England which has been labelled as having the worst litterbugs in the country.
The Suffolk town is showing it is the exception to the rule and has been shortlisted for being the tidiest town in the country in the Clean Britian Awards.
Staff at the Ipswich Borough Council said the recent research, carried out by cleaner streets campaigners Keep Britain Tidy, does not apply to the town because residents are taking pride in where they live.
The survey was conducted recently to see where the biggest litter louts were and found that more than a third of those asked in the east of England admitted to dropping litter. Almost 90 per cent of those asked admitted to dropping fruit peels but not food wrappers.
But this week Ipswich council will be hitting the streets to tackle another large problem - cigarette butts.
A spokesman said: “On Thursday we will be on the Cornhill to launch our Big Cig campaign. There will be a life-sized cigarette to greet everybody and a competition to see how many cigarette butts people can pick up in thirty seconds with a litter stick.
“This event hopes to show people how difficult it is for our teams and make people think twice about dropping them.”
The event will run on Thursday from 11am to 3pm and councillor Inga Lockington will also be there handing out Stubbi's - personal disposal units for cigarettes.
The spokesman added: “We are pleased with the way people are responding to our efforts to tidy up the town.
“We think the best way to tackle this is a mixture of education and enforcement and this seems to be doing the job.
“A lot of people in Ipswich seem to be taking pride in where they live and we are trying to get the message through to the others.
“It is great that we can buck the trend of the towns around us.”
Clean Britain judges will announce the winner of the cleanest town in Britain in March 2007.
n. Do you think Ipswich is clean or does more work need to be done? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or email eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk
WEBLINK - www.ipswich.gov.uk
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