Staff at Norse Group locations turned out in force up and down the country to take part in this year’s Norse ‘Tidy Up’ last Friday (September 20).
The event saw almost 130 largely office based workers (80 in 2018) at 14 locations, donning high viz jackets and gloves and using litter pickers to collect more than 180 bags of rubbish.
Locations which took part included Barnsley, Daventry, Exeter, Great Yarmouth, Medway, London, Newport, Norwich (where four picks in total were held), Wellingborough, Lowestoft and Gressenhall in Norfolk.
The third ever Norse Tidy Up also involved staff from NorseCare’s The Meadows facility in Norwich.
At least one Norse member of staff also volunteered to carry out his own ‘mini’ pick in North Norfolk and several members of staff came in on their day off to take part.
The biggest Tidy Up was at Fifers Lane in Norwich where 20 or so staff tidied up a route stretching from Norse’s Fifers Lane headquarters and the surrounding streets, collecting around 245 cans, more than 60 bottles and 27 plastic bottles, which were sent for recycling.
Other litter picks in Norwich were held by staff at Lancaster House on the Broadland Business Park and at Townshend House in the city centre.
Staff in Barnsley joined others in cleaning up a local beauty spot and in Wigan items discovered included a bike and a pregnancy test! NorseCare staff (pictured above left) came across a discarded packet of meat while carrying out their litter pick.
The pick in Lowestoft collected the most bags of litter, 26 in total!
Group Managing Director Dean Wetteland said the event was a big success, adding that the Tidy Up was becoming an important annual feature of the Group’s Norse Way corporate social responsibility calendar.
He said:
Encouraging office based staff and managers to volunteer to collect litter is a simple but effective way of demonstrating our commitment to the environment and the communities we serve. I’m delighted the Tidy Up has grown again, with a record number of litter picks taking place this year.
Littering our streets is completely unacceptable and I believe there is a real enthusiasm for this sort of community based action and, as a company with a strong social conscience, we wanted to set a positive example.