MORE than 200 volunteers took part in Truro's first ever clean-up campaign.

City Clean-up Week, which is organised by Truro BID, saw community and business representatives give their time towards litter-picking and cleaning within the city centre and surrounding housing areas.

Alun Jones, Truro BID Manager said: “It was fantastic to see hundreds of people working together side by side for the common goal of cleaning up our great little city. The local businesses from all sectors and local community groups really stepped up to the challenge and made a huge difference with a vast volume of discarded rubbish removed from the city centre and resident areas.

He added: “We would like to say a special thank you to Paul Caruana and Damien Richards for encouraging their communities and volunteering their own time to the project. Well done all, let’s do it again towards the end of the year!”

The BID, worked in partnership with stalwart Truronian Paul Caruana. His contacts with community groups and supported by Cornwall Clean, Cormac and Biffa, have enabled the first event to be a huge success.

Paul Caruana said: “This project has been such a great initiative for the city. Unless somebody starts a project like this, nothing ever gets achieved. The BID has been instrumental in kick-starting this project, which we now hope to continue twice yearly.”

He added: “The amount of rubbish that the teams have cleared from all over Truro has been phenomenal, and we now hope that people will continue to keep areas clean. Even 1 person, for 1 hour on 1 street each year could go a long way to keeping Truro as clean as it should be.”

A large number of community organisations joined in including Truro Lions, Truro Scouts, Cornwall Fire & Rescue, Rosedale Community Association, Malpas Road Community Association, New Beginning Community Association, Pen An Dre Residents Association and Tregurra Residents Association, many of which were mobilised by Damien Richards, the Community Development Officer for Truro City Council.

Truro City Council Parks Department have also been really proactive pressure washing Victoria Square, Lemon Quay and River Street bus stops as well as Roberts Ope off Boscawen Street.

Likewise, the support has also been strong from city centre businesses including Wilko, Stephens Scown, Merchant House, Hawkins Bazaar, Stratton Creber, The Cornish Food Box, Truro & Penwith College, Nalders, Miller Commercial, Pennyworths, Cornish Mutual and The Alverton have all contributed staff and many volunteer hours to the project.

In total more than 250 bags of litter were collected, which included a large variety of items such as old bikes, window frames, broken chairs and thousands of bottles, many of which had been discarded over a number of years.

All items that could be recycled were separated and recycled separately by Biffa.

Truro BID plans to schedule a second ‘clean-up week’ for late Autumn this year. If you would like to volunteer for this event please email sian.knights@trurobid.co.uk

For further information contact Charla Symons at Truro BID on 01872 273999 or email charla.symons@trurobid.co.uk