It’s time to Love Your Verge!

A campaign has been launched by Litter Free Dorset to highlight the different wildlife and flowers that can be found living along the roadside – but are threatened by discarded litter.

Litter Free Dorset is made up of a group of organisations, charities and community groups that aim to reduce the social, economic and environmental impacts of litter.

It is launching #LoveYourVerge for the whole month of March.

Litter audits were carried out ahead of the campaign launch which revealed the most common items collected were crisp packets, sweet wrappers, coffee cups and single use plastic bottles.

These items not only look unsightly but are having an impact on the wildlife and flowers.

Artist Claire Nuttall has got involved with the campaign and produced large signs featuring different creatures to celebrate hidden wildlife areas and urge people not to throw litter out of their car windows.

Charlie Wild, Litter Free Dorset Project Officer, said: “We want to remind drivers that these verges that they drive past, sometimes on a daily basis, are home to a whole host of wildlife; from black-eyed daisies, moths, poppies, hedgehogs, dormice, all the way up to deer which can frequently be spotted along the A35 to Bournemouth.

“Litter can be harmful to some of these creatures who get stuck in plastic bottles and litter can smother flowers making them unable to bloom. These verges aren’t a glorified rubbish bin, and with the start of spring we felt it was a good time to clean the verges and get drivers and their passengers to stop throwing it out of the car window.”

Find out more about the campaign by finding Litter Free Dorset on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.