Litter Picking

Saturday, 13th December, 2025

Oxleas Car Park & Surroundings

We were a happy band of 12 at today's session - and what a lovely, sunny day it was for our final litter pick of 2025!

We pickers gathered at Oxleas car park, eager to get started, and we were very pleased to welcome two brand new volunteers to our group. It's always good to have new volunteers amongst us and we hope we will have even more sign up for our 2026 sessions.

A leisurely litter pick on the sunny woodland paths.

The woods surrounding Oxleas Café and the edges of the meadow were our target once again, having carried out a focused pick in the car park area recently, where we collected up all the tiny bits of litter which accumulate there.  The litter this time was widespread, allowing us a lovely walk through the woods in the sunshine, but the amount was smaller than usual, which must be a good sign.

Litter Picking on the edges of the sunlit meadow.

Once again, the Royal Borough of Greenwich were very efficient in their rubbish collection, removing about 15 bags of rubbish plus a few large plant pots, a motorbike seat, and plastic plumbing items. However, their eagerness to collect prevented us to get a cheery end of session group photo with the pile.

Once again, we discovered that some rubbish sacks had been nailed to trees in the woodland adjoining the car park, particularly in the very darkest area, some of which were very full; others with just a small amount, likely to be those areas which are visited less frequently.  Hopefully, this will reduce the amount of litter on the woodland floor, prevent it breaking down into micro-plastics etc. and therefore will offer greater protection of the environment.

The question is: Who has pinned them there?  Is this Council-led or is there a concerned resident in the area who is helping us protect the woodlands.  Whichever it is, we are very grateful.

The last session of the year deserved marking in some way and some of us stayed behind afterwards for a celebratory hot drink at Oxleas café. 

Enjoying a warming drink after the session

Many thanks, Sue, for the treat, and for continuing to lead this very important group for The Friends of Oxleas Woodlands.

Join us on 3rd January for our first litter pick of 2026. Contact: oxleas.volunteers@gmail.com