Volunteers clear 300 tonnes of river rubbish

The volunteers have removed 300 tonnes of rubbish from the River Trym in the past six years

A group of volunteers which has spent six years clearing up a river said it had removed more than 300 tonnes of rubbish.

The volunteers started work in 2018 to clear fly-tipping, litter and invasive weed Himalayan Balsam, from the River Trym in north Bristol

The aim of the Trout in the Trym project is to create a better habitat for wildlife, especially fish - hence its name - along the watercourse.

Alex Dunn, chair of Sustainable Westbury-on-Trym, said finds had included 15 motorcycles, a gun and "so many shopping trolleys, it's difficult to count".

Trout have started to make a comeback in the river since the volunteers started cleaning up the water course

The group meets every Friday and Sunday morning for two hours and works closely with Bristol City Council, who come and collect the bagged rubbish.

They also pull out Himalayan Balsam, an invasive weed, from the riverbanks, monitor the river flies and regularly check phosphate and nitrate levels.

The next step is for Trout in the Trym to further improve the river's water quality, but the group said it needed help from other organisations.

"Volunteers are a real asset," said Peter Coleman-Smith, who has been volunteering for four years.

"We can do a lot, but we cannot do it all.

"We need the council to crack down on fly-tipping, which is a big problem. The fact that we keep finding loads of rubbish shows that they are not on top of it.

"And we need Wessex Water to crack down on the amount of sewage flowing into the river."

Volunteers work with the council to bag up and dispose of the rubbish bags

Wessex Water said it already had a team dedicated to stopping people accidentally polluting rivers.

A spokesperson said the company also invested £3 million a month on schemes to reduce how often storm overflows carry pollutants into the region's rivers.

The Environment Agency said it had a helpline for people to report water pollution and each incident was investigated.

Trout in the Trym said it hoped more volunteers would come forward to help further its work of improving the ecological status of the river.

"A chance to see a kingfisher one day would be brilliant," added Mr Coleman-Smith.