Community cleanups

The water in the River Wandle is now some of the cleanest in London, but the river has been treated as a flowing dustbin for at least the last 150 years. Unfortunately, many people still use it as a place to dispose of things they don’t want. 

That’s why we hold regular community cleanups at different points up and down the river, at 11.00am on the second Sunday of every month, to improve the environment for birds, fish, insects and local people. 

Everyone involved is a volunteer, and we usually collect at least 2 skips of rubbish within about 4 hours, before enjoying a well-earned drink at the nearest pub. We’re immensely grateful to our partners at the local London Boroughs of Croydon, Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth for taking the rubbish away for us afterwards – and for helping us recycle some of it too.

We can supply a limited number of waders, plus protective gloves and First Aid facilities, but please bring your own wellies if you have them, and wear old clothes that you don’t mind getting dirty!

Click through to the Calendar page of this site for details of when and where our next cleanup will take place. 

Or tell us your email address via the “Stay in touch” box on the left – and have this cleanup information sent direct to your inbox every month!

Finally, if you need any futher information about cleanups, you can email us direct at cleanups@wandletrust.org