A clean sweep – National Highways volunteers spruce up Solihull

Staff from National Highways joined together with Skanska, HW Martin and Highways Resource Solutions to carry out a litter pick in the area while work continues nearby on the £282m upgrade at junction 6 of the M42. 

Fast food wrappers, plastic bottles and cups were among the litter which had been discarded at the side of the road, which is currently closed while work takes place to realign the route onto new roundabouts and bridges. 

The tidy-up follows the launch of a new national social media campaign by National Highways calling on people to stop and think before they discard litter.  

It costs the taxpayer an estimated £1 billion to clean up across the UK every year. 

L-R: Soorya Sudheer, Jan Griffiths, Olly Hayes, Patrick Thomson, Fozia Fazil, Simon Forth, Brian Donaghue, Adam Gallis, Caroline Hill, Aleksandra Gajos alongside the electric tricycle on the litter pick in Solihull. 

The volunteers made special use of an electric tricycle from Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council sustainable travel team to help carry some of the rubbish bags during the tidy up which took place on August 9. 

National Highways Project Manager, Adam Gallis said: “As we’re working in the area as part of our major upgrade at junction 6 of the M42, we decided to tidy-up Catherine de Barnes Lane. It is disappointing to see how much litter has been thrown onto the roadside and we would urge road users to take their rubbish home - if people didn’t drop litter in the first place it wouldn’t need to be picked up. 

“We know that littering is a social problem across the country and we’re working hard to tackle it on our roads. Roadside litter is a threat to other drivers and vehicles using our roads, the environment and wildlife, it can block drains and forces us to close roads to ensure roadworkers can safely clear up the mess.”    

Skanska Senior Stakeholder, Customer & Communications Manager, Steve Van Der Park said: “This was a great opportunity to be able to partner with National Highways, Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council sustainable transport team and our supply chain to be able to deliver this great community activity. Using the electric tricycle meant we were able to not only collect litter from the surrounding area, but to do it in an environmentally sensitive way.” 

To find out more about the project, click here to visit the scheme webpage.