
In 2021, the University of Lincoln took part in the Big Hog Friendly Litter pick challenge. Our Hog Friendly team, local canoe club and Lincoln Students’ Union ran events during September – November. We were fortunate enough to be able to use our local CLEAN Hub, a dedicated litter picking equipment loaning hub, run by the University and charity Clean Lincoln Everywhere And Now. We called our Lincoln campaign “CLEAN up for Hedgehogs” and have continued to call further events this throughout the year.

Overall, we had 50 attendees, comprising of staff, students and members of the public. 42 bags were collected overall during the challenge, with a launch event to promote it on 15th September (where we collected a further 8 bags).

The biggest haul from a single litter pick came from the Lincoln Canoe Club Paddle Clean Up; 11 sacks of junk were removed including 99 cans (now recycled) 85 single use plastic bottles (saving for an art project) and 52 glass bottles (now recycled). Along with 2 trolleys, A chair, 2 odd shoes, a scooter, balls, lighters, lots of other stuff and an inflatable flamingo - winning the most unusual prize!
We expected to find as much litter as we did on our city centre campus and waterways, most main routes are adjacent to the campus and we also have a lot of fast food outlets around the area.

The best bit about being involved in this challenge is feeling as though you’re part of a larger community of like minded individuals all working together to help the humble hog. If anyone is hesitating on taking part in this challenge this next year, I would recommend just going for it. My advice would be to set up regular weekly events and to get in touch with your local litter picking groups in advance.
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University of Lincoln
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