THE co-founder of a litter picking group in Chippenham is hopeful that a campaign launched by the town council will make a difference to people’s attitudes when it comes to rubbish.

The #chipplitterpick campaign has been launched after an area known as the black swamp in Monkton Park was named as one of the UK’s top ‘grot spots’ during February.

Elaine Massung, founder of Off The Ground, formerly Rubbish Walks Chippenham, nominated the spot as part of the national Queen for the Clean campaign in preparation for the Queen’s 90th birthday.

“I nominated it back in January because if it were selected it would get a professional clean and get some positive publicity,” said the 34-year-old, who started Rubbish Walks Chippenham with her husband Jonathan Paget in November 2014.

“If this campaign gets people starting their own community groups, going out with people and cleaning up their street or patch then that’s great.

“If everyone picked up a piece of rubbish a day it would make a big difference.

“I would absolutely love if this means that we can do more in the town and there’s less litter.

“We need to instil pride in people because we don’t want to live in a litter environment.

“Having council support is really important but it needs to be sustained, not just a one-off thing, because people’s memories can be short.”

The #chipplitterpick campaign will take place on May 2, with everyone in the town being asked to pick up at least one piece of rubbish.

Black bin bags will be provided by the council the week before from the Town Hall, John Coles Park and Stanley Park sports ground.

“I think every day people should be encouraged to pick up litter,” added Dr Massung, a portfolio manager for the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council in Swindon.

“Cleaning is easy, what’s really needed is a campaign of behaviour change and education.

“We could solve the litter problem tomorrow if people didn’t drop it and save £1 billion a year which could go on better things.

“It’s a problem that shouldn’t exist.”

Send in your pictures of the worst litter spots in Chippenham to smackley@newswilts.co.uk.