Removing rubbish
Regular litter picks around pitches and public spaces create cleaner, safer places for young people and families.
Our Work
Litter Pick Initiative
Clean pitches. Stronger community. We regularly litter pick around pitches and public spaces, while promoting reusable bottles to reduce the waste we make.
Clean Pitches. Stronger Community.
We clean our pitches so everyone can play the right way.
The Litter Pick Initiative is a simple, visible part of the charity's work: removing rubbish from the spaces young people use, protecting nature for future generations and building community through action and care.
Protecting nature
The initiative helps young people connect football with looking after the environment around them.
Building community
All ages can get involved, with simple supervised action that turns local pride into something visible.
Choose reusable. Reduce waste.
We promote reusable water bottles to cut down on single-use plastic and reduce the waste left around community playing areas.
Why It Matters
Looking after the pitch is part of looking after the community.
The initiative helps the charity tell a wider story than football alone: care for local spaces, practical environmental action, reusable-bottle habits and young people taking ownership.
Cleaner Playing Areas
Regular clean-up sessions help make local football spaces safer, more welcoming and more respected by young people and families.
Environmental Learning
Young people see the connection between the places they play, the waste left behind and the choices that keep shared spaces usable.
Youth Stewardship
The project turns responsibility into something visible: young people helping care for pitches, parks and community spaces.
Circular Bottle Story
Collected bottles can be sorted with partners and directed into reuse or recycling routes, including new bottle products where available.
Reusable Bottles
We're blue, but we're green too.
The clean-up work is only one side of the message. The Project can also use reusable bottles to help young people reduce single-use plastic before it becomes rubbish on the floor.
Promote reusable water bottles at sessions, camps and community activity.
Reduce avoidable single-use plastic around pitches and public spaces.
Use bottle habits as a practical environmental lesson young people can understand.
Work with partners where reusable bottles, recycling and reporting can strengthen the project.
How It Works
Simple, visible and easy for partners to understand.
The Project can connect clean-up activity with schools, parents, volunteers and recycling partners so environmental work becomes a practical lesson in responsibility.
Discuss PartnershipStage 1
Map the need
Identify playing areas where bottles and litter are regularly left behind, then agree which spaces can be cleaned safely.
Stage 2
Run supervised sessions
Organise clean-up activity with the right adult supervision, consent, equipment, risk checks and safeguarding boundaries.
Stage 3
Sort and record
Separate bottles and reusable materials, record what was collected and keep a clear trail for partner reporting.
Stage 4
Reuse, recycle and teach
Work with partners to move bottles into the right route, then use the story to teach responsibility and local pride.
Pilot Evidence
The project should be easy to evidence from day one.
The initiative is practical work, so the reporting should be practical too: what was cleaned, what was collected, who took part and what partners can verify.
Sites cleaned
Location, date, condition before clean-up and visible change afterwards.
Bottles diverted
Bags, bottle counts or weight recorded in a way partners and funders can understand.
Young people involved
Attendance, volunteer roles, youth leadership moments and reflections from participants.
Partner evidence
School, council, sponsor or recycling partner confirmation where they are involved.
Safe Delivery
Community action only works when it is properly supervised.
The initiative should feel positive and youth-led, but the responsibility sits with trained adults and the charity's safeguarding expectations.
Adult-led sessions with agreed supervision ratios and clear boundaries.
Gloves, litter pickers, bags and safe handling instructions provided before activity starts.
Sharps, broken glass, unknown liquids and hazardous items reported and handled by adults only.
Parent/carer consent, image consent and safeguarding expectations agreed before young people take part.
Weather, site access, traffic, toilets and first-aid considerations checked before each session.
Records kept for attendance, incidents, partner involvement and learning points.
What Support Funds
Practical environmental work needs practical backing.
Donations and partner funding can make the project easier to run repeatedly, not only as a one-off clean-up.
Clean-up equipment
Litter pickers, gloves, bags, high-visibility items and basic sorting equipment for youth-friendly sessions.
Safe storage and transport
Practical support to move collected bottles and materials from playing areas to the agreed reuse or recycling route.
Youth leadership
Recognition, certificates and small rewards that make community responsibility feel valued.
Partner reporting
Time and tools to record evidence, produce updates and share the project story responsibly.
Partnership
Different partners can help the same project in different ways.
The strongest version of the Litter Pick Initiative is a joined-up local project: young people, families, schools, site owners, sponsors and reuse partners all playing a clear role.
Schools and community sites
Help identify local spaces, host education moments or connect young people to supervised community action.
SchoolsRecycling and bottle partners
Provide a verified route for collected bottles, reuse advice, recycling data or support with bottle-to-bottle storytelling.
Partner With UsSponsors and local businesses
Fund equipment, transport, youth recognition or a named local clean-up area with clear public-benefit reporting.
SponsorshipGrant funders
Support the pilot as a practical environmental, youth leadership and community safety strand.
Grant FundingCommunity Action
Help turn cleaner playing spaces into a visible youth-led project.
The Litter Pick Initiative gives donors and partners a clear environmental strand inside the wider charity mission.