Sugary drinks, sweet and crisp wrappers were collected from West Ham Park on Monday at a “Clean for the Queen” litter picking event.

Staff from the park, which is owned and managed by the City of London Corporation, analysed the types of litter collected over the weekend with volunteers from the Friends of West Ham Park to help promote healthy eating within the local community. Spot checks on waste bins found that three-quarters of rubbish collected was either sugary or alcoholic drinks or low-nutrition food like crisps or sweets.

Lucy Murphy, the City of London Corporation’s Manager at West Ham Park, said: “Clean for the Queen is a great opportunity to raise awareness around waste collection. The type of litter being collected every day at West Ham Park highlights the real challenges residents of the local community face around healthy living and healthy eating.

“West Ham Park offers visitors a range of opportunities to get healthy and change habits including our weekly Walking for Health scheme (every Wednesday 11am), community vegetable garden, coaching on our newly refurbished tennis courts and the Capital Kids Cricket multi faith cricket festival on Saturday 16 April (10am – 3pm). We would love to see more people coming along to these events and maybe next year we will be collecting mainly apple cores, water bottles and salad wrappers!

“The City of London Corporation spent £50k on collecting waste in West Ham Park last year. We have been working hard to be more environmentally friendly by processing green waste on-site and have succeeded in reducing our waste costs to £40k in 2015/16 which we hope to continue to drive down in the future.”

ENDS

For further details please contact:

Susanna Lascelles

susanna.lascelles@cityoflondon.gov.uk

Tel: 020 7332 1754

About the City of London CorporationThe City of London Corporation, headed by the Lord Mayor, provides local government and policing services for the financial and commercial heart of Britain, the 'Square Mile'. In addition, the City Corporation has three roles: (1) To support and promote the ‘City’ as a world-leading financial and business hub, with outward and inward business delegations, high-profile civic events, research-driven policies all reflecting a long-term approach. See www.cityoflondon.gov.uk for more details. (2) to support London’s communities by working in partnership with neighbouring boroughs on economic regeneration, education and skills projects. In addition, the City of London Corporation’s charity City Bridge Trust aims to address disadvantage across Greater London through quality grant-making and related activities. It makes grants of c £20million per year to charitable projects in London. The Corporation also supports education with three independent schools, three City Academies, a primary school and the world-renowned Guildhall School of Music and Drama. (3) To look after key London heritage and green spaces including Tower Bridge, Museum of London, Barbican Arts Centre, City gardens, Hampstead Heath, Epping Forest, Burnham Beeches, and important ‘commons’ in south London. And – with its heart in London’s Square Mile - we also support and promote the ‘City’ as a world-leading financial and business hub, with outward and inward business delegations, high-profile civic events, research-driven policies and a long-term approach. See www.cityoflondon.gov.uk for much more on our uniquely diverse role, including the City of London Police, etc.