Love Your Layby

What is the Love Your Layby Campaign about?
Love Your Layby is a simple initiative, launched by Plastic Free North Devon.
We are asking people to leave home a few minutes early, or take a stop if you find yourself with extra time on your commute, and take that time to clear a layby of rubbish. You don’t need to go mad and do all the laybys, just one would be brilliant.

How to Love Your Layby…
Take a bag with you, some gloves or a littler picker, and stop to clear just one layby. It might be one near to where you live, on your route to work, near your child’s school, or a destination where you go for days out. But whatever the weather, take a moment to stop and pick up the rubbish that you can see, pop it in your car or bag and dispose of it properly when you get home or to your destination (remember to separate recyclable waste if you can do so easily and safely). We’d love you to take a snap or even a video, share it on social media, and use the tag #loveyourlayby and of course @plasticfreenorthdevon so that we can share the layby love. Before and after snaps would be great, to illustrate what a positive difference one person can make.
Remember, you don’t have to Love Your Layby on car trips only… this applies if you’re out and about on foot, or whizzing around the beautiful North Devon landscape on a bike.
Wherever or whatever cleaning you do, make sure that you take a moment to enjoy the view.
**Please be aware of road safety as you do this activity. We’d even encourage you to pop on a high visibility vest if you’re able to, especially if you’re cleaning around dawn or dusk, or even in the hours of darkness.**

Why Love Your Layby?
We’d say that North Devon is home to some of the most stunning laybys in the country – and we want to keep it that way. However, over the last few months, especially with plant life and brambles receding in the winter months, we’ve noticed that all kinds of rubbish items are being revealed at roadsides and in hedgerows. It doesn’t need to be this way. At Plastic Free North Devon, we’re dreaming of a future where our laybys, not to mention all of our beautiful landscape, are loved and looked after. So let’s keep these spaces clean for wildlife, and for ourselves.

What can I expect to find?
Bottles and cans, takeaway packaging, plastic bags and wet wipes seem to be common occurrences on these sort of cleans. If you find anything particularly weird and wonderful, make sure to post it and tag us… we’re curious to hear about the most unusual ‘rubbish’ finds North Devon has to offer.

Why on earth would I find these items in a layby?
Same old story here, we’re afraid to say. There are some people who still find it acceptable to dump rubbish wherever they fancy.
“If someone else dumped it, then it’s not my responsibility!” we hear you cry. But the end goal of having a clean environment is far more important than whose responsibility it is to clean. So we say, take a stand. Do your little bit. And let’s see what a positive impact we could make together.

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