The Gorton litter-picking group that has been running for almost a decade

A group of Gorton residents have been attempting to keep their community clean by going on litter-picking trips in their spare time.

After many reports of people dumping rubbish illegally and littering, the group has taken things into their own hands and has taken monthly litter-picking trips.

Catherine Warner, a resident of Gorton for over 30 years and one of the founders of the monthly litter picks spoke to the M.E.N about Gorton's problem.

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She said: "I have lived here for 30 years now, I was originally born and brought up in Higher Openshaw. I don't remember litter being such a problem years ago."

"We had got together to protect Godfrey Ermen Field from development and this led us to think about what else we could do to improve and protect the area.

"Abbey Hey was looking uncared for. It had always been an area of close community and people were proud of the area but it was looking dirty and uncared for.

"We decided as a group that we could make just a small difference by organising a litter pick. People are less likely to drop litter if there's none there in the first place.

"Fly-tipping is a massive issue and stricter measures need to be put in place. Fly-tipping is often caused by people from another area. Tips need to be more accessible. Also, residents are not clearly informed about how they can get rubbish removed for free or for a small charge."

The group started the group in 2016 and has been doing monthly litter picks with around five people on average in a group, however, when covering wider areas, the numbers could increase to double digits.

Catherine talked more about how they initially started: "We arranged to