Newquay Business Improvement District (BID), in partnership with Land and Sea Cornwall have announced a new programme to collectively encourage local businesses to help local residents keep the famous destination clean and tidy.
Based in Newquay, Land and Sea are a team of volunteers who love the environment and hate seeing it trashed. They believe in a collaborative, community-based approach to tackling litter rather than just ‘leaving it to the authorities’. The organisation rolled out their Adopt a Street initiative for residents in Newquay in 2021 and had an excellent uptake.
Following this success, in collaboration with Newquay BID, Land and See is now offering the Adopt a Street opportunity to Newquay businesses. Interested businesses can now register to be an ambassador, taking on the responsibility to look after a certain portion of Newquay’s streets. Businesses can make a choice of which streets they want to care for, but it will generally be around a shop front or business surrounds.
In return, thanks to ongoing support from Newquay BID, Land and Sea will provide equipment for litter picking and additional, immediate support if there is something that needs reacting to. Both organisations will also promote participating businesses as champions for Newquay across their extensive social media platforms and followings.
Jess Channing of Land and Sea says, “People often ask why we don’t just ‘leave this to the council’. Cornwall Council do have a responsibility for cleaning streets and highways as well as to remove litter, leaves and plant debris from adopted highways, roads and Council owned land. However, they aren’t able to be everywhere all the time and, unfortunately, there is more litter around than they have ability to collect.
Jess continues, “Ultimately, the responsibility is on all of us to dispose of our waste correctly. This isn’t always done, and so we end up with litter. Lovely volunteers like our local Newquay residents and hopefully now, some brilliant businesses, provide extra help for the environment that is being affected by this constant litter problem. You don’t ever HAVE to pick up someone else’s litter, but it is an excellent thing you CAN do.”
Newquay BID and Love Newquay Manager Mark Warren says, “With the help of Land and Sea and our businesses, we can all strategically cover Newquay’s streets and open spaces so that litter is stopped before it reaches our beautiful oceans and natural environments. It’s really unfortunate that some of our society, be it locals or visitors, do not always behave in a mindful way and the litter problem is greater than the councils are currently coping with. Together, with Adopt a Street, we can all play a part in making, and keeping Newquay clean and tidy, and a place we can all feel proud of.”
Interested businesses should head over to Land + Sea’s website to find out how they can get involved.
