DIRECT ACTION

Heading up to Northfield, I leave the house armed with my nan's old pick-up stick and a roomy 20-litre carrier bag. I get no further than the neighbour's lawn before I spot my first catch - a lonely crisp packet fluttering sadly in the breeze. Bending forward, I snatch it up with my orthopedic hand and drop it into the waiting sack. A few yards on, a squashed lager can nestles in the gutter. Levering it up with the magic claw, I toss it with relish into my net like a shiny silver fish. It is soon joined by a plastic water bottle, a couple of fizzy drink cans and several sweet wrappers. As I progress steadily along the backroads of B29, my handy hook retrieves a varied assortment of discarded flotsam and jetsam. Fast food packaging, pizza boxes, beer cans, alcopop bottles, chip paper, chewing-gum wrappers, yesterday's newsprint. Translated into useful resources, that's oil, aluminium, glass and wood pulp. There are hot spots where I have to be selective: the anonymous grass verge at the end of the street, a windswept bus shelter, a neglected-looking patch of waste ground. I register a few turned heads and amused or bemused looks from passing cars: 'What's that bloke up to?' Half-way up the hill, I encounter my first public litter bin and it strikes me how far I've had to walk to find one. I quickly empty out the non-recyclable items and carry on, saving the bottles, plastic and cans for my green box when I get home. Back in port, I tip out the results of my trawl. It's not terribly pretty. But far from feeling disillusioned, I have a tangible sense of achievement. How I enjoyed cycling back through the mile or so of clean streets I'd left behind me. It reminds me of the so-called 'broken windows syndrome': a little more time spent looking after our own local patches could go a long way.

Dave Watton is Joint Project Coordinator at Northfield Ecocentre in South West Birmingham. The centre works with the community to find practical ways to live better and protect the environment.