{"id":290101,"date":"2025-07-25T08:24:19","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T08:24:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/290101\/"},"modified":"2025-07-25T08:24:19","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T08:24:19","slug":"sheffield-council-workers-launch-river-clean-up-drive-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/290101\/","title":{"rendered":"Sheffield council workers launch river clean-up drive"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tom MacDougall<\/p>\n

BBC News, Yorkshire<\/p>\n

\"SheffieldSheffield City Council<\/p>\n

Laura Ellendale of Sheffield City Council said she was surprised by the amount of rubbish in the River Don<\/p>\n

Sheffield City Council staff have ventured to the banks of the River Don armed with litter pickers as they launched a new partnership to clean up the city’s waterways.<\/p>\n

The authority has recruited community interest group Riverlution to remove rubbish, and council workers joined the team as work got under way – with plastic bottles, takeaway wrappers and even a discarded TV among the items recovered.<\/p>\n

Riverlution said it removed invasive plant life and 118 tonnes of litter from more than 250,000 sq m of rivers within the past year.<\/p>\n

Ben Miskell of the council’s Transport, Regeneration and Climate Policy Committee said: “The Riverlution team has already done a remarkable job, and the project is only set to go from strength to strength.”<\/p>\n

Council flood and water manager James Mead said the authority hoped the work would “set an example” to other land owners along the Sheffield’s waterways.<\/p>\n

He said appointing Riverlution had “added value” as it worked with local volunteers and offered apprenticeships and training.<\/p>\n

\"SheffieldSheffield City Council<\/p>\n

Councillor Douglas Johnson was among those volunteering to help clean the river bank<\/p>\n

Council sustainability programme officer Laura Ellendale said the work was “really, really rewarding”.<\/p>\n

“I spend a lot of time behind my desk writing things and working on project plans, so it’s the opportunity to be out physically doing something to help as well,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Sometimes we forget the day-to-day, physical thing we’re trying to fix.”<\/p>\n

Riverlution apprentice Morton Brearley, 19, said helping to run volunteer days was part of his training programme.<\/p>\n

He said he had been inspired to become a water-based environment worker because he lived next to a river in Mosborough, where he played with friends.<\/p>\n

“I’ve always had a thing with water, but when I was younger, I never thought I’d be able to do something like this,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It’s definitely a big step up from just paddling.<\/p>\n

“I stick my waders on now and I’m in the river litter picking, getting really stuck in.<\/p>\n

“It’s a really nice thing to do, it really makes a difference.”<\/p>\n

\"SheffieldSheffield City Council<\/p>\n

Riverlution apprentice Morton Brearley said he was proud his work made a difference<\/p>\n

Miskell said: “Sheffield was built on its rivers – they powered the Industrial Revolution and helped shape the identity of our city.<\/p>\n

“Today, they remain vital assets, cherished by those who live near our blue corridors and enjoyed as places of nature, calm and connection.<\/p>\n

“With a changing climate, these same rivers also can pose increasing risks, and flooding events that were once considered rare are now happening more frequently, threatening lives and our city’s economic prosperity.<\/p>\n

“That’s why careful stewardship of our waterways is more important than ever and we all have to step up and play our part.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tom MacDougall BBC News, Yorkshire Sheffield City Council Laura Ellendale of Sheffield City Council said she was surprised…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290102,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8817],"tags":[748,393,4884,1620,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-290101","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sheffield","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-sheffield","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114912917700041372","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/290102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}