Join Beaminster in Keep Britain Tidy's Great British Spring Clean

The annual event, which takes place between March 22 and April 23, aims to get communities out and about picking up rubbish to help improve the environment in their town or village.

Volunteers will be out in force in Beaminster on Saturday, March 30 between 10.30am and 12.30am.

A spokesperson for the event said: “We run a litter pick around Beaminster town four times a year and we usually collect around eight sacks of rubbish.

“We are passionate about keeping our town free of unsightly litter and care for our environment.”

Highways England is also getting behind the cause and calling on west Dorset drivers to join them in doing their bit to reduce litter levels on the nation’s roads.

Freda Rashdi, Highways England’s head of customer and operational requirements, said: “Litter is an important national issue and we are pleased to be able to support the Great British Spring Clean.

“Litter is not only unsightly as well as a risk to wildlife and the environment, but it also puts our workers at risk collecting it and it diverts time and money that could be better spent on improving the network.

“If people don’t drop litter in the first place it wouldn’t need to be picked up, so we are urging people to take their litter home instead of tossing it out of their car windows.”

Keep Britain Tidy is aiming to inspire around 500,000 people to join the cause and Highways England will be able to clean up the areas they can’t get to.

Alison Ogden Newton, chief executive at Keep Britain Tidy, said: “Our roadside verges are a haven for wildlife, and we know that millions of small mammals are killed every year by litter that has been thrown from vehicles by thoughtless drivers.”

To find out more about the Great British Spring Clean, visit www.keepbritaintidy.org