Denbighshire is the litter-picking capital of Wales with a small army of 200 public-spirited volunteers keeping the county’s towns and villages tidy.

The county has more litter champions than any other county in Wales, and they and active groups in Conwy county are supplied with the tools of the litter picker’s trade from a storage unit on Lock Stock Self Storage’s storage park on Denbigh’s Colomendy Trading Estate.

They are part of the national Keep Wales Tidy (KWT) organisation – with Wrexham and Flintshire litter pickers also supplied from a Lock Stock site on Wrexham’s Ruabon Road.

The Lock Stock units hold the tools of their trade, litter pickers, hi-vis vests, rubbish bags, and hoops – essential for keeping bags open in breezy conditions – ready to be equip the small army of volunteers that Keep Wales Tidy can put in the field.

Gareth Jones, from Ruthin, is the KWT Manager for North East Wales, and he said: “It’s something I’ve always been passionate about since I was 16 and it’s such a shame that as we get more and more visitors to such pristine areas of countryside we find more bits and pieces being left behind.

“Deliberate fly-tipping is also a problem and we need to do more in terms of education and communication with the public but at the same time it’s amazing how may people are passionate about their environment and give up their time to preserve the local environment.

“We also have litter-picking hubs across Wales and including Denbighshire and Conwy - we recently opened one in Ruthin – where you can pick up the equipment you need to tidy up including the mechanical litter pickers and bags free of charge.

“We are planning to install one at the car park on Moel Famau which can be a bit of a littering hotspot.”

Keep Wales Tidy have over 200 litter-picking hubs across Wales where pubic-spirited members if the public can pick up the essential tools for cleaning up their local area free of charge – details are at https://keepwalestidy.cymru/caru-cymru/litter-picking-hubs/

Richard Warner, Lock Stock Regional Manager for North East and Mid Wales, said: “Keep Wales Tidy do a fantastic job in picking up litter and in raising awareness of the problems of littering.

“We often have issues around our sites and we do our best to keep them neat and tidy but it’s all about having respect for the place where you live and the number of volunteers they have speaks for itself.

“We’re always happy to support local organisations and Keep Wales Tidy have a unit in Wrexham and one in Denbigh as well.

“They have 24/7 access so it’s ideal for them if they have litter picks they can just come on site, pick up their equipment and off they go.”

Lock Stock, founded in Denbigh in 1999, is the UK’s largest containerised storage company with 60 per cent of their units rented by people moving house or keeping treasured possessions but up to 40 per cent, almost 2,000 used by small businesses for storing materials.

They offer a choice of 10 and 20 foot unit at their smaller sites going up to 40-foot units at their larger sites.

Those sites stretch from Holyhead and along the North Wales coast at Caernarfon, Bangor, Llandudno, Abergele and Rhyl, on the Dee at Flint, Saltney and Deeside and inland at Denbigh, Mold, Wrexham and Newtown in Powys, and at Oswestry, Shrewsbury and Craven Arms, in Shropshire, and Brimfield, in Herefordshire.

There is a growing market from students looking to store possessions outside term time and Lock Stock also specialise in the off-site hire - and sale - of containers, delivered to location by their specialist lorry which can even bring a unit to your premises to fill or empty and store it at any of our locations.

For information about Lock Stock Self Storage, including off-site container hire, contact them on 01745 817178 or go to https://lockstock.biz/

Fore more on Keep Wales Tidy go to https://keepwalestidy.cymru/