00:00this starts on the doorstep one bag one picker one promise to leave it better than you found it
00:09for this mom it became a family ritual a walk turns into a tidy a tidy becomes a habit
00:15neighbors nod fewer cans under hedges fewer compliance of the council and for her son a
00:21simple lesson you own the spice you live in this isn't a campaigner she's practical so we began
00:27there with the small spark that set this in motion and what shifted it from a one-off a clear-up to
00:33part of their week so we heard about samuel litter watches adopter street scheme and it kind of
00:40encourages you to take stewardship of your own streets or local park and and they make it so
00:47easy so they provide all the equipment the bags and then they pick up the full bags afterwards
00:55um we moved to wensbury about a year ago and we just thought it was a nice way to give back to
01:02the community but also to get to know our neighbors cleaner streets aren't just nicer to look at they
01:08change behavior when an area looks cared for people treat it with more care that's the idea but it only
01:14sticks if it fits real life we asked how they make it work around school runs work and weather and
01:21weather the children actually enjoy it rather than endure it because if routine feels like punishment
01:27it dies fast if it feels like pride it spreads it's part of our sunday routine now so we have our
01:33sunday lunch and then we all go out for about half an hour to pick up litter and it's not a massive
01:38commitment for litter watch it's usually two hours a month so 30 minutes it's no bother and as for my
01:46child zach um it gets him off his devices it also gets us off our devices for half an hour we have a
01:52laugh we chat um we get to meet our neighbors um and he loves it when people thank him for what he's
01:59doing as well there's a hard edge too residents doing the job many think the council should handle
02:05budgets are tight priorities clash and street cleansing is never the only pressure volunteers help but they
02:12aren't a replacement we asked what difference she's seen on her street how quickly fall bags are
02:17collected and whether reporting problems get action it's a simple test does the system meet people
02:23halfway or leave them carrying it alone so the streets are a lot cleaner now um also it's um the
02:32neighbors are very welcoming and they thank us for what they're doing um as for the council's reporting
02:38system so there's the my sandal app and you can report things like potholes fly tipping if the
02:45street lights are out so that's really useful um also when we've collected the litter we report it to
02:52litter watch who then gets circo to come pick up the bag so it's a great team effort
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