York Dungeon Help to “Clean Up the City”

This was in support of the SEALIFE Trust and World Ocean’s Day. The York Dungeon were joined by team members from the York BID Street Cleaning Team, City Cruises, Little Vikings, York Mumbler, Biodiversity UK, Visit York, Merlin’s Magic Wand, Beyond the Business, and Rachael Maskell from 9am to 10:30am on Friday morning, and collected litter and rubbish.

Mark Mattinson, General Manager of the York Dungeon said “The turnout was incredible for our third ever Riverside Clean, and we managed to pick litter from Ouse Bridge, all along King's Staith and New Walk, across the Millennium Bridge, and then back along Terry Avenue as far as Skeldergate Bridge.”

“And the combined efforts of everyone saw us collect 51.74kg of rubbish; that's 51.74kg of plastic, glass, fabric and metal that won't now make its way into the River Ouse, and consequently into our seas and oceans. And we were able to collect more than double the 22.3kg of rubbish collected in 2023.”

“We will continue to make this bigger initiative every year, and along with asking for volunteers to join us again 2025, we will now be setting up a riverside clean every 3 months for local businesses to join in with. This also highlights though how much more can be done to keep our beautiful city clean, free of litter, and looking as wonderful as possible for the 8 million visitors that we welcome every year, and of course for our residents too.”

Emily Pickard who runs York Mumbler, York's Trusted Parenting Community & Website, added “Today was such a brilliant event organised by the York Dungeon. It's sad that there is a requirement to litter pick, but it was an hour really well spent this morning. Getting out walking and removing so much litter from the riverside, so that it will never make it's way into the oceans. It looks so much cleaner for everyone to enjoy too! There was a great sense of comradery as well as being able to feel great all day about doing something good for the planet. I'd highly recommend that others get involved in litter picking, it's a brilliant activity to do with your kids too. Thanks to the York Dungeon for bringing us together to do this - looking forward to next time!"

The next riverside clean is scheduled for Wednesday 18^th September to again support the SEALIFE Trust and their Global Beach Clean.