PEOPLE across County Durham and Darlington are urged to become Litter Heroes by joining the annual ‘Big Spring Clean’.

LitterFree Durham and Darlington, Durham County Council and Darlington Borough Council want residents, community groups, schools and businesses to give their area a spring clean during an annual litter-picking campaign.

The event was launched at Locomotion Museum in Shildon on Valentine’s Day, when volunteers showed love for where they live, ready for this year’s Big Spring Clean, which runs from Tuesday until April 9. On the day, 42 volunteers collected 86 bags of waste.

Last year, the campaign saw 3,041 volunteers do 204 litter picks across County Durham, donating more than 5,267 hours of their time during which they collected 3,021 bags of rubbish.

A series of organised litter pick events will be held, details of which can be found online at darlington.gov.uk/litterpick or durham.gov.uk/bigspringclean

To organise a litter pick in County Durham email litterfreedurham@durham.gov.uk or call 03000-260000 or in Darlington email litterfree durham@darlington.gov.uk or call 01325- 406719.