17 October 2011

Today, up and down the country, thousands of people will be coming together to take action to improve the communities in which they live and work.

To kick-start Love Where You Live, Keep Britain Tidy's new national anti-littering campaign, the charity is working with some of the world's biggest - and most littered - brands (including McDonald's, Wrigley and Imperial Tobacco), government, local authorities, voluntary organisations, schools and communities to take action to tackle the problems of litter, dog fouling, fly-tipping and graffiti that can blight the places we love.

At noon today, the campaign is encouraging everyone to take five minutes of action to show that they love where they live - whether that be picking up some litter, pulling a few weeds out or sweeping the pavement outside their home or business.

New research from Keep Britain Tidy shows that, as a nation, the English really do love where they live.

The charity's new The Word on our Street survey, published today, shows that the appearance of people's local area concerns them more than the level of services provided by the NHS, traffic congestion or global warming - and that level of concern has risen in the past 12 months from 63% to 70%.

The aftermath of this summer's riots revealed the extent to which people care about their communities. Spontaneously, people came together to clean up the mess left behind.

Love Where You Live is about taking that desire to live in clean and tidy places and turning it into a long-term campaign of activity by all sections of the community.

Love Where You Live is being backed by Keep Britain Tidy's celebrity ambassador and TV personality Kirstie Allsopp, who will be doing her bit to support the campaign today, along with up to 100 volunteers, at a clean-up event in Croydon.

Kirstie said: "By taking small actions, we can make a big difference and tackle the problem of litter that blights our beautiful country. I hope everyone will get out there and support Love Where You Live. We all have a role to play and it is not someone else's responsibility to clean up, it is everyone's responsibility."

Love Where You Live is also supported by the government. Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman, who will be joining Kirstie at today's event, said: "There is never an excuse to drop litter. It affects everyone and blights neighbourhoods.

"That's why I want to help people to clean up their streets and be proud of their communities. We all love something about where we live, so it's important that we all work together to improve the environment around us."

Tell us about your Day of Action activity by posting news and pictures to our Facebook page or tweet us at our Twitter site.

Download The Word on our Street survey.