Local residents and Athlone Garda Community Policing Unit organise National Spring Clean event.
The Athlone Garda Community Policing Unit and local residents have joined forces to arrange a major clean-up of the Woodlands and Ashdale area on Saturday April 18th 2009 as part of An Taisce’s National Spring Clean campaign.
Speaking in advance of the event, Superintendent Aidan Glacken of Athlone Garda District said “The cleanup of Woodland and Ashdale has been co-ordinated by the Community Policing Unit at Athlone Garda Station. Taking part in An Taisce’s National Spring Clean initiative further demonstrates An Garda Síochána’s commitment to fostering and sustaining positive Community Partnerships. The Garda Community Policing team in Athlone is working closely with schools and local voluntary/community groups in their efforts, to organise clean-ups and thus raise awareness of issues such as Graffiti etc in our communities. Athlone Community Policing Unit is planning other like initiatives for the Athlone Urban area over the summer months.”
All volunteers will meet at 11am at St. Kierans Community Centre, beside Ashdale Housing Estate, and the group would like to encourage as many people as possible to join in the event. Athlone Town Council will arrange for the removal of all rubbish collected on the day.
The National Spring Clean campaign is organised by An Taisce and funded by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and local government. In 2008, more than 450,000 people volunteered to join with other members of their community to organise clean-ups around the country where an estimated 1,596 tonnes of litter was collected and 35% of that waste was recycled.
Patricia Oliver, National Spring Clean Chairperson said: “The National Spring Clean campaign encourages people to work together to create a cleaner environment and plays a vital role in improving quality of life by empowering people to take responsibility for, and have pride in, their local areas. The initiative is totally reliant on people’s willingness to give their time and energy to help to make a difference in their community and the results continue to be outstanding. I would like to praise the Athlone Community Policing Unit and the residents of Woodlands and Ashdale for organising this event.”
The National Spring Clean campaign is sponsored by Coca-Cola Bottlers Ireland and the Wrigley Company. It is also supported by Repak who supply colour coded refuse sacks for recycling the materials collected and Killeen who sponsor the general waste sacks. The campaign is backed by all Local Authorities who co-ordinate activity in their communities.
The objectives of the National Spring Clean Campaign are to:
Promote personal responsibility for litter
Improve quality of life in local communities
Heighten awareness of litter and waste issues
Highlight the importance of recycling and reuse
Enhance our countryside to help stimulate tourism
Increase participation rates in the campaign year on year
All those registering for the National Spring Clean campaign are issued with a FREE clean up kit which contains information, posters, colour coded refuse sacks for segregation of waste materials, protective gloves and tabards to keep participants clean. An Taisce will also liaise with local authorities to ensure that all materials collected will be picked up without charge.
To register for National Spring Clean call 01 4002220 or log on to the website at www.nationalspringclean.org.
Garda Press Office
9th April 2009 12.46hrs
