More Rubbish

The Wren Conservation Group held their monthly practical work session in Aldersbrook Exchange Lands – once the Old Sewage Works – on Sunday 6^th January. The task was to do some clearance of invasive bramble and some litter-picking, starting just inside the entrance from the lane by the riding-stables.

I elected to do some litter-picking, and armed with rubbish-sacks and a long-handled gripper, began to work my way along the boundary with the Empress Avenue (Aldersbrook) Allotment site.

Rubbish in Aldersbrook Exchange Lands in January, 2013...There were a few bits of rubbish adjacent to the track – typically beer-cans, and perhaps not unexpectedly many with Central European brand names – but it really wasn't too bad. However, immediately adjacent to the boundary fence it was a different matter. Here, all manner of materials had been dumped, including drinks cans, of course, but ranging through plastic bags, netting material, glass, corrugated plastic roof coverings and broken flower pots. The last is a bit of a clue, for almost all of this material had been dumped from the allotments. In some parts there were – as they say - 'literally' mounds of stuff.

Now I would have thought that in essence people that hold allotments would also be people that had some degree of ecological outlook, but that appeared not to be the case. In fact I knew this not to be the case, because it was years ago that I first complained about this lack of respect for the allotment's neighbour, Epping Forest.