'Get out there and care' - Blackburn litter-picking hero's rally cry to 'selfish' fly-tippers ruining his town

From piles of rubbish left in alleyways, to sofas, beds and kitchen sinks dumped at the side of roads, the situation is dire, and despite continued effort from local councils and volunteer groups, the mess keeps on growing.

One man who probably knows more about fly-tipping than anyone else, is Wayne Dixon from Blackburn.

Keep Britain Tidy ambassador, Wayne Dixon and his dog, Koda, who are taking part in the Great British Spring Clean

Mr Dixon, 49, along with his dog Koda, have been travelling the length and breadth of the country for many years, making it their mission to collect litter and clean up the nation's coastlines.

The Keep Britain Tidy ambassador says that even though we are living through a virus-borne pandemic, there is another kind of pandemic running alongside it, and it's spreading throughout our neighbourhoods at rapid pace.

Wikford

He told the Lancashire Telegraph: "Here in Blackburn with Darwen we have another pandemic running alongside the current Covid pandemic, and that is the lazy, ignorant and selfish pandemic of people from a large section of our society that just do not care about anything apart from themselves.

"Littering, fly tipping, dumping rubbish in streets, back alleys, country lanes, fields.

"It's just unbelievable and disheartening, and actually very frightening that throughout an actual life-threatening pandemic such as Covid, we have continuously seen selfishness, ignorance and a lack of respect from people ruining our beautiful land where we live.

Wayne Dixon - KeepBritain Tidy (KBT)'s most loved ambassador - and his dog Koda in Brighton. In a bid to clean up the beaches ahead of the UK's biggest annual litter clean-up campaign, the Great British Spring Clean that is back for another round in

"Over the past two years, two fantastic litter groups have been set up here in Blackburn with Darwen, and all over the UK too.

"Hundreds and thousands of volunteers who care about where they live have tirelessly been cleaning and improving their communities, because our country is being ruined by non-caring people who are constantly doing this.

"It's so disheartening to know there's a big part of society who think that it's ok to ruin our amazing and beautiful island, our villages, towns and cities."

Mr Dixon said his home town and surrounding areas are lovely places to visit - walking and cycling heaven for any keen culture vulture, with places such as Darwen Tower and the moors, the Ribble Valley, Forest of Bowland and even the nearby Peak District.

Wayne Dixon and Koda

After seeing a recent article which showed a man dumping rubbish at the side of St James' Church in Darwen, Mr Dixon said: "Sadly we have a lot of people here in these two towns that are constantly littering, people living anti-social lives who can't be bothered to book a tip appointment.

"What I saw on my journey around the country was that the UK has a blanket of litter all over it, a blanket that is constantly being added to.

"Our highways are an absolute mess, most big towns and cities are just covered in it.

LITTER PICKER: Wayne Dixon, and his dog, Koda from Witton, Blackburn, are litter picking their way around Great Britain.

"Our mountains, hills, rivers and canals are drowning in it.

"Our beautiful wildlife are decreasing because of it.

"With doing hundreds of beach cleans over the past few years I've seen just how much the UK is putting in to the sea and a lot of that is just rubbish from people littering and also using the loo as a bin.

"It's frightening, and what's more frightening is that millions of people are showing that they just don't care.

"You will see it in my town when you visit, just a quick drive round some places and you'll think to yourselves, 'wow this is a place where no one cares', and that will be mainly because of all of the litter you'll see."

Wayne Dixon and some of the members of Keep Blackburn Tidy who do tremendous work to keep areas such as Mill Hill free from litter

Mr Dixon said despite the ignorance, people have started to fight back, particularly those who volunteer for Keep Blackburn Tidy and Keep Darwen Tidy, but sadly, he believes these people are in the minority.

He added: "It saddens me because these volunteers have made an amazing difference to the towns in the last few years - this goes for all of the volunteers throughout the UK.

"Yet we see this littering on a daily basis.

"The problem is sometimes too much for the councils to deal with, so these selfless volunteers are getting out there and restoring pride in where they live.

"But there needs to be a zero tolerance approach to this ignorant behaviour were seeing.

"We need to put a stop to this once and for all.

Wayne Dixon and Koda

"All those of you who are proud of where you're from and care for where you live, then show it and take this opportunity while coming out of lockdown to start to clean up our beautiful country and our beautiful world.

"Get rid of this selfishness, ignorance and lack of respect - get out there and care."