Volunteers who distributed food to families on the Isle of Dogs during the Covid crisis have now turned their hand to helping clear rubbish along the Thames.
Members of the Island Network decided to help the Thames 21 charity get rid of plastics and other litter that gets washed up by the tide.
“We're fortunate to have such spaces and have a responsibility to keep them clean,” Island Network’s chairman Maium Talukdar told the East London Advertiser. “This has brought people together to contribute to our environment as we are surrounded by the river.”
His 15 volunteers, who also kept an eye out for families and the elderly during the pandemic, joined Thames 21’s Dilawar Hussain and social landlord One Housing Group’s community officer Rohul Miah to organise litter clearing.
It was part of a nationwide Treasure Your River programme kicked off on May 14 by the Hubbub environment charity and Thames 21 to clean up Britain’s major rivers and prevent disposable plastic waste ending up in the world’s oceans.
Among the worst litter spots on the Thames is the Isle of Dogs, where rubbish gets caught up in the bend as the tide goes out and eventually ends up at sea.
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