Starting in Liverpool St @ 10am I had already collected 40 odd Metro's without too much effort. Then having agreed our plan 15 of us left to meet up later on, none of us really knowing what to expect. We were pleasantly surprised by people's reactions however. Pretty much everyone we spoke to was in agreement that the free papers are a serious litter problem for London. Despite claims by Metro, we were picking up plenty of their copies during the 10am - 1pm slot.
Admittedly the streets weren't overflowing with free papers during our first outing, but we were concentrating on conversation and engagement with the public during this quieter part of the day. The really interesting thing for me was the consistency of people's reactions - everyone was of the same mindset - ie 'having found this paper on the tube I might read it, but it isn't mine so i don't feel that obliged to recycle it'. Therein lies the real problem; once abandoned on the tube the papers can really only be classed as public litter.
On to Euston where everyone reconvened looking uplifted by their morning of engagement, but all were suffering from filthy hands and slightly aching backs. Having secured our mornings stash with a friendly operative at Euston (to be picked up later) we all left for our next session. And from there it really took off.
No-one was able to collect all the papers that had been abandoned. The large recycling bags we were using just weren't big or strong enough. I'm not trying to exaggerate; if we'd had a 100 volunteers and we'd concentrated on the busiest time for freesheets (4-8pm) I think we could easily have collected in excess of 15,000. The only limiting factors for us were the bags, our strength, and the number of bags we could carry with us. The abandoned papers were in plentiful supply.
As it was we all made it to Trafalgar Square by 6.30 and collated the 19 bags we had dragged around town. We worked out we had approximately 80 papers in each - grand total 1500. Photo's of our stash and interviews followed and then it was off to the pub via the recycling truck that had very kindly been supplied by Westminster Council.
Come September when we undertake 'Walkabout 2' with our ever growing army of faithful volunteers I'm looking to achieve the gathering of 15,000 collected papers. And if you don't believe me, you can come and count them yourself.
;-)
