A campaign to make Stone litter free has received a funding boost and Stafford Borough Council is asking customers of Tesco to vote for the litter campaign in a bid to get even more money to help with the initiative.
Many businesses and retailers in Stone and Stafford signed a pledge to play their part in keeping the area clean when the initiative was launched last year. Shoppers, workers and residents in the town were also greeted with a huge pile of rubbish which represented the amount cleaned from streets of the borough in a day. Around one million pounds is spent each year keeping the borough clean and more than 200 people were given on the spot fines for littering in 2017.
Tesco Bags of Help shortlisted the campaign, which received £1,000 from the funding pot, and now Tesco customer votes could bring in more money. Customers get a token, after completing a shop at the stores in Stafford, to vote for one of three projects. They then place the token into the project box of their choice.
Voting started this week and will run until Wednesday 28 February 2018. The funding will go towards litter picking equipment that can be used for free by schools, community groups or businesses.
Cabinet Member for Environment and Health, Frank Finlay, said: “The support from businesses, organisations and the public for this campaign has been tremendous and I am pleased we have the opportunity to secure more money that will help towards our initiatives.
“We have a beautiful borough and want to keep it that way. A clean borough attracts people and businesses to the area which is good for the economy. So we would rather work with our communities to keep it clean – but will not hesitate to fine or prosecute those who don’t.”
Information on the litter campaign can be found at www.staffordbc.gov.uk/keepitclean.
