SOME 155 bags of rubbish collected by volunteers at the weekend as part of the ninth two-day Truro City Clean Up.

Around 80 volunteers from dozens of local businesses and community groups join residents with litter pickers and black bags to spruce up their local areas. Fly-tipped finds included discarded road signs, 14 traffic cones, an exhaust pipe and batteries, as well as plenty of bottles, vapes and general rubbish.

Work began on Friday [March 13] with a litter pick along Tregolls Road, followed by cable-tie cutting, sticker removal and sign washing in the city centre. City businesses and organisations involved included ASK, Barclays, CLEAR, Cornwall Council, Francis Clark, LiveWest and NatWest.

On Newham Industrial Estate, 40 bags of litter were collected by 33 volunteers (and one dog) from eight businesses: RRL Chartered Accountants, RouteNote, MJ Medical, Kartha Commercial Cleaning, Cher Varya, St Petrocs, Bluebird Care and Biffa.

On Saturday, the Friends of Daubuz Moor worked their patch, led by Truro City Council countryside ranger Anna Cormie; City Life Church and Trelander and St Clements Community Association arranged a litter pick in Trelander, and the Kenwyn Community Association focussed on an area including Kenwyn Church Road and Rosedale Park.

There was also targeted litter picking around Hendra and Penair School, and further sign washing and sticker removal by volunteers including Jayne Kirkham MP and Truro in Bloom.

The event was organised by Truro and Newham Business Improvement Districts (BIDs), with Truro City Council’s community development officer, Damien Richards, and volunteer community leader Paul Caruana helping to galvanise local community groups for the clean-up.

“Litter picks do more than keep an area clean - it is a way to bring the community together,” said Mr Richards. “We often have people taking part that have never met before, with a broad age range from the very young to the much older.”

All parties thanked Nick James and Bryan Skinner for handing out kit including bin bags, hoops, hi-vis vests and grabbers, and driving the rubbish away.