Emergency town litter pick turnout 'phenomenal'

The turnout for an emergency litter pick before a 10k race in a Shropshire town has been described as "phenomenal".

More than 50 people helped clear 100 binbags of rubbish from the streets of Market Drayton on Saturday, before 1,800 runners and their supporters descended on the town on Sunday.

The litter pick was called by mayor Tim Manton, after he said 160 bins were overflowing since Shropshire Council changed its contract. The authority told the BBC changing contractor had caused delays as new staff were learning routes and procedures.

"I am genuinely… so proud of our community in Market Drayton; when you ask, they give - and it gives me a wonderfully warm feeling inside," Manton said.

"It was phenomenal, seriously, [I'm] absolutely blown away from it."

Manton said among the 100 bags were varying items, "good, bad and unsavoury".

"One picker found a pair of pants... cardboard boxes, rubbish, just general detritus," he added.

"When you think 100 bags, that's 100 bags of litter that was blowing around our streets."

Manton told the BBC that although one large motivation for the litter pick was the 10k, another driving factor was because people loved the town and wanted to see it clean.

"We did focus on the 10k route to sort all the litter out, so it was fantastic," he said.

"It's not only the 1,800 runners, its all their family, everybody else coming.

"It was fantastic to welcome those to a clean, litter-free town."

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