THE challenge is on for residents in Ryedale to join forces and collect as many bags of rubbish as possible.

Keep Britain Tidy has launched the Great British Spring Clean encouraging people to join forces as part of the Big Bag Challenge. Communities record how many bags of litter they have filled from their picking pursuits and inform Keep Britain Tidy to see how much has been collected across the country.

Malton and Norton Tidy Group has been going since 2009 - offering more than 13 years of keeping the streets tidy.

Antony Croser, a founding member of the group, said: "We tally up our bags as we go, letting Ryedale District Council know where we’ve left the litter bags and how many we’ve done – it all counts towards the Great British Spring Clean.

"All sorts of people from all backgrounds and ages come to our litter picking sessions. We’ve had some teenagers doing their Duke of Edinburgh award getting in on the action."

Residents or community groups interested in finding out more about the Great British Spring Clean can pledge to pick up a bag of litter or two on the Keep Britain Tidy website at: https://bit.ly/3r4Xufb