World record river tidy attempt set for the Taff

Local TV

Hundreds of people across Wales have already signed up to take part in a world record attempt for the most people tidying a river at once. We chat to Paul Batters who’s already signed up with his homeless litter picking group, telling us why he wanted to be involved.

Transcript

00:00Nature hasn't got opposable thumbs, it can't pick stuff up, so I see it as nature giving

00:09us, passing it to us for us to pick up and take it away because nature doesn't need it.

00:16Our rivers have seen better days. It's simple. If you take a walk down the Taff, you're almost

00:20certain to spot a bit of litter somewhere. From cans to even old TVs, it's a real issue

00:25that people want to see fixed. People like Paul Batters and his Wombles of Wales group

00:29are a part of that, and he says it's necessary to protect our rivers.

00:34We've all dropped something on the floor before. Most of us this year, myself included, although

00:41I pick it up. Let's spend an hour or two. With the whole country coming together to

00:49look after our beautiful and ancient land. So that's what I'm appealing to. Let's all

00:58get involved and get on board this project. Paul and his team have signed up to be a

01:02part of a world record river cleanup attempt taking place later on this month. There's

01:07hope that thousands of people across Wales will be a part of it, and it'll raise awareness

01:10of the importance of looking after our rivers and other nature.

01:14Yes, at Taff Tidy, on the 21st of March, we're organising a world record attempt for the

01:20most amount of people to clean up a river at multiple locations along its rivers bank.

01:26So we've got eight confirmed locations from Brecon, Merthyr Vale, Pontypridd, all the

01:31way down to Cardiff Bay, to the mouth. And we're not just attempting to break the world

01:36record. We've got over 500 people confirmed. Yeah, it's about mobilising the masses and

01:44creating a community spirit around being responsible for our natural world together.

01:48And we want to definitely get involved in this and get as many people involved as possible.

01:54So, I mean, as I'm sure everybody can see who visits or goes along the river Taff, there's

02:05a lot of rubbish that's in the river and on the banks, etc. Now some of the stuff, yes,

02:12is thrown over the side by people, but a hell of a lot of it just ends up in the river naturally

02:21by winds, by rains, by floods, by whatever means.

02:26Until three weeks ago, this was going to be a world's first world record. But a river in India attempted

02:33it a few weeks ago and broke it. So the number has increased. So for a moment, I was quite

02:39panicking because I was told the number was quite high. But we're still waiting for confirmation,

02:45it's around the 350 to 400 person mark. Guinness still haven't approved the final number. So

02:52every person kept turning up is really important because we may not break it if they don't.

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