Dedicated Chesterfield litter picker collects almost 30kg of rubbish in two hours

Lee Brassington, 40, of Brimington, collected seven bags of rubbish last Saturday after he was contacted by a man on Facebook complaining about the state of the local area.

Lee, who has been involved in litter picking since 2021, said: “I do a lot of traveling around and I’ve been to some really nice places in the country. But wherever you go, there's always rubbish. It really gets on my nerves and it’s horrible.

"The worst thing that I hate is what we call "Driver Tizer" – when big lorry drivers wee in a bottle and chuck it in the hedge. That's terrible in Chesterfield because there are loads of lorry parks. Two weeks ago during the group litter pick we found 51 bottles of drivers’ wee at one stretch of a road in Holmewood. It was shocking and disgusting.

"There are no facilities for HGV drivers in most places so I understand the need to wee in a bottle, but just don't throw it in the hedges afterwards. Pour it down a drain or take it home to dispose of."

Lee, who was born in Chetserfield and has lived in different areas of the borough through his life, added: "I think that Brimington is one of the worst places for litter because there are parks, schools, pubs, and the high street. When somebody mentioned on Facebook it was really bad last weekend, I thought I'd do everyone a favour and pick up the litter.”

Lee, who picks a lot of rubbish around Chesterfield on his own, is also a part of the Chesterfield Litter Picking group which meets every Sunday and organises a two hours long group litter pick. During the last two sessions the group collected 350 kilograms of rubbish around the town.

Lee added: “It’s awful that the rubbish is there in the first place, but its brilliant results for our team that we could collect this much. I’m quite passionate about litter picking because I enjoy making the place better. People are quite thankful and whenever I go for the group picks, we often have drivers waving to us.”

“It’s great that I can help the area look better, but think it's horrible that people are so lazy that they can’t be even bothered to put rubbish in a bin. They often complain that there are not enough bins and it’s the council’s fault.

"I think the council does quite a good job. The bins are collected regularly and not overflowing. When I leave the bags near a council bin for collection, they are usually gone in less than a week.

"Saying there aren’t enough bins is just an excuse. There are loads of bins, especially in Brimington. You just have to walk 100 yards and you can find one. It really gets on my nerves that people are so lazy, that they won't do that.

"I think that raising awareness is very important and if just one person reads the article and puts the rubbishing the bin, it’s a result in my eyes.”