Neighbourhoods

Creating cleaner, greener spaces

3 things you can do today

Re-route one journey. Pick a car journey you take regularly and try walking, cycling or taking public transport instead.
Meet your neighbours. Discover something good going on near you and get involved. You'll share your skills, meet someone new and help create stronger a community. This is a good place to start.
Plant something. Trees and plants are great for making our neighbourhoods more inviting, and they clean the air too. Silver birch trees are particularly good for reducing pollution levels. NASA did a study into great ways to clean the air and revealed English ivy, philodendrons, spider plants and golden pothos are great options for growing at home.

Go a bit further - run your own campaign.

Love Your Forest

Creative ways to tackle litter in rural areas, using the latest thinking and designs from around the world.

We all want clean and safe spaces around us. Our public polling discovered that a staggering 86% of people think littering is a disgusting habit yet only 15% of us would actually confront someone and tell them that.

Country roads and ancient woodlands strewn with litter is a rubbish problem to have. Each year 250 tonnes of rubbish are removed from the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, alone, costing local tax-payers more than £400,000 a year. For every kilometre of road cleaned, three full black sacks of rubbish are collected. Yes sir yes sir, three bags full.

The #LoveYourForest campaign explores different ways to reduce littering in the Forest of Dean area. In 2016 this included a pop-up litter shop displaying 33-year old litter collected from the forest floor, and Communitree faces hung around the forest. The campaign is back in 2017, launching with a Trashconverter Van and a community event.

The litter shop of horrors

Litter from yesteryear was collected from the forest floor and displayed in a one-off art installation. Some vintage pieces even date back 33 years depicting that litter lasts for a very very very long time. Read more.

The Communitrees

If only trees had eyes…well here they did! Weird and wonderful tree faces designed by local children were attached to 50 trees in the Forest of Dean to keep watch on littering. The theory behind the idea came from research revealing that if you feel like you're being watched you're less likely to conduct the undesired behaviour. Read more.

The 2016 campaign generated a high level of local engagement; 30 organisations contributed to the initial research and scoping discussions; 14 primary schools and 2 secondary schools participated in anti-littering educational activities. At least 2,850 local people were actively engaged in the campaign.

Litter monitoring around the Communitree installations indicated a 30% reduction in local litter levels and 82% of people polled would like to see similar projects in the future.

Read the full impact report

Comments (3)

Comment (maximum 3500 characters) *

Add an image

Add a video

Notify me when someone makes a comment

First name *

Last name *

Email *

Which country do you live in?

Please enter your postcode*

Address line 1

Address line 2

Town or city

Can we contact you?

Via email

Via telephone

Via SMS

Via post

Which country do you live in?

Please enter your postcode*

Address line 1

Address line 2

Town or city

By submitting this form you are agreeing to our terms and conditions

"86% of people think littering is a disgusting habit yet only 15% of us would actually confront someone and tell them that"

Well yes, because the sort of person who litters indiscriminately is often likely to be the sort of person who'd punch you in the face for speaking out!

From: Andy Baker

Published: 03 August 2017

0 of 1 people found this helpful.

Did you find this helpful?
Yes

No
Hi Emma, they are abundant its of litter aren't they. Great to hear you litter pick to help keep places tidy.

From: Heather Poore

Published: 27 July 2017

0 of 0 people found this helpful.

Did you find this helpful?
Yes

No
Sports energy gels packs and crisp packets. I litter pick often (in the FOD) and its foil packets central....

From: Emma Parsons

Published: 10 May 2017

0 of 0 people found this helpful.

Did you find this helpful?
Yes

No

Latest

Why has Hubbub bought a horsebox?

Last year we trialled the 'Trashconverter' van to tackle litter in the Forest of Dean. From this pilot, we learnt that using a van had its drawbacks, so this year the Trashconverter is back, as a horsebox.
7 sustainable superheroes for green living inspiration

To celebrate the people who inspire us to make greener choices we’ve put together an ultimate list of sustainable superheroes. A go-to list of bloggers and movie makers who offer advice on sustainable fashion, eating and living, all nominated by you!
The story of a start-up charity: why there are five B’s in Hubbub

We started Hubbub four years ago, aiming to take a fresh approach to environmental campaigning by engaging a mainstream audience. We started with £25,000 and a set of clear principles, but gradually a growing number of companies expressed a desire to collaborate and together we have created a portfolio of activities which we couldn’t have dreamt of at the early outset.
#mygreeninspiration terms and conditions

Why has Hubbub bought a horsebox?

Last year we trialled the 'Trashconverter' van to tackle litter in the Forest of Dean. From this pilot, we learnt that using a van had its drawbacks, so this year the Trashconverter is back, as a horsebox.
Recycling disposable coffee cups

Seven million disposable coffee cups are thrown away every day in the UK. Until recently that was seen as almost inevitable, but public attitudes have changed - and so have the recycling possibilities. Download our free guide to setting up a disposable coffee cups recycling scheme in your workplace.
Five steps to reducing single-use plastics

Up to 12 million tonnes of plastic enters our oceans each year. Last week it emerged that plastics have even been discovered in creatures living seven miles beneath the sea. What are the five steps that need to be taken to fully address the problem?
Top takeaways from national Neat Streets Roadshows

This year we set an ambition to support councils across the UK by running a series of Neat Streets Roadshows. Here are some of the top tips we’ve been sharing.
Come Plastic Fishing with us

We've built Poly-Mer, the world's first plastic recycled boat, which will take people on Plastic Fishing trips to collect plastic litter from the Thames to turn into more boats that can clean our waterways.
Be a winner - host the ultimate litter-free picnic

Picnics are a brilliant way to spend time with friends, family and enjoy the outdoors. Here are some top tips for hosting the ultimate packaging and litter-free picnic. Share a photo of yours and you could win a £50 voucher.
Join the hunt for the forest Communitrees

The Communitrees return to the Forest of Dean to keep a watchful eye over the forest floor. Designed by local school children and built by local artists, they remind people to take their litter home.
Trashconverter Tour

The ‘Trashconverter’ toured the Forest of Dean, engaging people on the issue of littering by getting them to swap their trash for treats. Positively reinforcing anti-littering behaviour and raising awareness of litter in the environment.
'Tidy Litterers' are polluting the River Thames; #FFS things need to change

300 tonnes of litter is scooped out of the River Thames annually, but many people don't connect this with their daily habits and over half admit to squeezing litter into bins that are clearly overflowing. Today we're launching ‘For Fish’s Sake’ #FFS to tackle litter in the River Thames and we're starting with 'tidy litterers'.
Hubbub launches van-detta against litter

Today Hubbub launches the ‘Trashconverter Van’ seeking to tackle roadside litter. The van is the next phase of the #LoveYourForest campaign exploring new ways to keep the ancient Forest of Dean clean.

Gift A Bundle of outgrown baby clothing this Mother's Day

183 million items of outgrown baby clothing are tucked away in UK homes! In the lead up to Mother’s Day, pass them on to support families via 42 mothercare stores.
Be a part of the Community Fridge Network

Community Fridges are communal places where surplus food is shared. Find your local Community Fridge and see how you can save food and money.
How to recycle clothes too worn to wear

1/3 of clothes across the UK end up in the bin, despite the fact that stained, damaged and holey clothing can be recycled into new items, such as padding for chairs and car seats, cleaning cloths and industrial blankets - find out how.
What we do and why we do it

We're a social enterprise that works very like a creative agency for environmental issues. The best bit - all our profit goes back into our mission, because we're a charity too.
Set up a Community Fridge

The Community Fridge is a simple way of enabling communities to share good food that would otherwise go to waste, and we're looking for people set up Community Fridge's in their communities - find out what support is available to you.
Meet the team

We're a small team with huge ambitions - come and meet us.
Recycle your coffee cup with the #SquareMileChallenge

Coffee. It's the fuel of the nation. We throw away 7 million coffee cups a day and less than 1% get recycled. Take part in the #SquareMileChallenge to recycle 1/2 million cups this month.
Make, do and mend events

10 fashion event ideas. From film screenings to fashion swaps, this free e-guide has events of all shapes and sizes for you and your friends to re-vamp your wardrobes, make your clothes last longer and save money.
We're recruiting

Are you passionate about the environment and making it relevant to the mainstream? Keep an eye out here for job vacancies.
Neat Streets

Creative ways to tackle litter using the latest thinking and designs from around the world.