Thank you for everyone's support in our pitch at the event for the Zero Waste bags. If anyone is interested in purchasing them, below is the link: Zero Waste Bag UK – ZeroWasteBag UK We hope to be on our way to filling all 6 by the time the next event comes round and really hope to see it taking off in other communities. Thank you again and well done everyone on some fabulous and inspiring pitches.

During the 2 weeks of the Great British Spring Clean, Brighter Better Orrell did daily posts of guidance of what can be recycled and where. We wanted to highlight local initiatives for people to ‘Spring Clean’ and de-clutter such as dropping books to Orrell book cycle and plastics, batteries etc to our local co-op. As part of the campaign we looked at harder to recycle items and after a lot of research with Superdrug, Boots and local recycling centers, there was no local option to recycle medicine blister packs. (Many admitted they had been incorrectly putting these in their brown bin) As a community group, we purchased the Zero Waste bag from Terracycle. Due to Terracycle specializing in more complex recycling, the bag cost £39. We managed to get a small discount as a new user. This cost although seeming steep covers the delivery, the collection from an Inpost locker and then the recycling itself as there’s two materials in the one item.   The feedback on social media was incredible. So many residents were waiting for the bag to be positioned, complimented us on the initiative and were saving their used packs up ready.   We wanted the bag to be in the heart of the community and somewhere that once someone was there, could do other things so we approached Orrell Connect Centre. We wanted people to engage in the community and those that struggle to do this would have the ‘excuse’ almost to be popping in. Orrell Connect Centre houses a post office, café and a large hall with daily groups and activities being held there. They positioned the bag in the post office for us and it was filled within the week. We have since purchased another which is already full and the 3rd is half full already. The feedback has been amazing and not only are we making Orrell more environmentally friendly, but bringing people to a common place where hopefully friendships are enhanced and formed. For some, this small social interaction can be the highlight of their day. We would like the bags to be a permanent addition to the community and potentially explore other venues to put these in to encourage the same effect. The 6 bag bundle currently has a 17% offer making it £195. We would love to pitch for this amount to be able to purchase a further 6 bags and keep this initiative going into 2025.

The Brighter Better Orrell community group was founded early 2020 as a litter-picking group, with the aim of creating a brighter, cleaner and safer community, and a place to be proud to live and work. The group is fully constituted, with almost 2500 members, a young, active and enthusiastic committee and a number of regular volunteers. Over the last four years the group have gone from strength to strength, with a number of very successful inclusive community events, random acts of kindness, transforming neglected “grot spots” into beautiful gardens, working on environmental projects, gaining a level 5 "Outstanding" award in the RHS IYN, and working closely with the council, our local community, other community groups, local businesses, schools, colleges and police to reduce ASB, and improve road safety. In particular we have been working to improve Holgate Park, removing tons of historic litter, planting over 4500 tree whips, 8000 native daffodil bulbs, 3000 native bluebells and 1000 native wildflower bulbs, sowing a wildflower meadow, planting a community orchard, providing an area for a concrete base and table tennis table, improving parking and security, and installing a welcoming archway to the pedestrian entrance. The park, which previously many people of Orrell did not know of its existence, is now an attractive and inviting area, well used by families. We have found that by improving an area the community takes more pride, the area stays tidy and there are less incidents of ASB.   Over the years we have struggled to recruit volunteers, so we have been reluctant to expand to other areas. However, we have recently been approached by Orrell St James’ ARLFC who wish to get involved. This is an ideal opportunity to widen our coverage to include the part of Orrell which borders Pemberton. It has often been seen that Orrell “stops” at the M58/M6 junction on Orrell Road and the area from there down to Pemberton appears to be neglected, littered and unloved. We are now in a position to change that image and invest some of our time and expertise to start enhancing this area and improving Redwood Park, similar to the work undertaken at Holgate Park. Our idea is to encourage litter-picking in the community, including the local businesses, many of which are fast food take-aways, organising at least one large community litter pick along Orrell Road towards Pemberton,including the Redwood Park area, start improving any suitable green areas, including introducing some planters and organising an inclusive, community bulb planting event within the park. Through these events it is hoped that we can recruit more members who will be willing to invest time in maintaining the area with the support of the group, making this an evolving and  sustainable project.   Any investment we are able to secure will be used to purchase perennial plants, plantersand spring bulbs for the area.  Thank You!