At a recent weekend litter pick on the outskirts of Woking the Warriors (WLW) recorded their 1,000th bin bag of rubbish over the past three years.

The vast majority of the total consisted of non-recyclable items and included items such as insulation, carpets, tyres, large shelving frame, rusty bucket, multiple hubcaps and an asbestos fly tip was spotted.

WLW founder Lauren Horncastle said: “We estimate that when you include all the heavier non-baggable items we have picked up something like three to four tonnes of waste materials from the roadsides, verges and parks of Woking and the surrounding district.

“This is completely shocking, especially when you take into account that we have cleared several roads and stretches more than once.”

Woking Litter Warriors
All the litter collected (WLW) (WLW)
Woking Litter Warriors
The team can be found litter picking in Woking and surrounding areas (WLW) (WLW)

Since the group was founded in February 2022, the Warriors have been back to locations such as Egley/Guildford Road, Kestrel Way and Burdenshott Road as well as Sheerwater several times, and on each occasion have found them almost as badly littered as before.

Lauren added: “People should really take a little more pride in their local area and simply take their rubbish home with them or deposit it in a bin.

“I can’t express how dispiriting it is to find that an area we cleared only a matter of months before is just as bad when we go back.”

“Although we recorded our 1000th bag on this pick, we know the total is actually higher as many of our volunteers often solo litter pick in their own locality and don’t necessarily report their bag count to us.”

Woking Litter Warriors
The group's 1,000th bag (WLW) (WLW)

If you’d like to help WLW clean up Woking, they meet around once a month and can be found on Facebook and Instagram. Alternatively, you can email them at wokinglitterwarriors@gmail.com.

They have a checklist and guidelines for what to bring to a litter pick for group and solo outings.