'Environment Day should be every day' says Mansfield's Mayor

We have all seen the increase in litter polluting our green spaces as people are heading to our parks to meet with friends again.

On World Environment Day we spoke to Mayor Andy Abrahams to discuss his thoughts.

He said: “To be honest, every day should be 'environment day'.

“It should be like brushing your teeth, something you do automatically - looking after nature, cutting back on waste and saving energy.

“The obvious things we can all do is not litter but as I jogged around a lovely nature trail this morning, I found so much rubbish that people had lazily just tossed away.

“Fast food wrappers and drinks cans were strewn on the grass wherever I looked.”

Many will have watched David Attenborough’s 'One Planet' documentaries and seen the scale of plastic and rubbish threatening the existence of wildlife, yet people continue to ignore the warnings.

Mr Abrahams added: “At the council, we are looking at everything we do to try to reduce our carbon footprint.

“When designing new housing developments we are ensuring the buildings are in the optimum position for solar panels, using the best quality insulation materials and having the most energy-efficient, low maintenance heating systems.”

Prior to lockdown the council had announced a kerbside glass collecting scheme for residents but have now, unfortunately, been forced to spend funds allocated to the project to providing services and supporting our vulnerable communities.

He said: “Whilst we are proud of how we have stepped up to the mark for our residents, we are disappointed that the government have not kept their promise to reimburse us for our costs, so we do not know whether we will now be able to afford the scheme.

“The economic consequences of coronavirus will be felt for years to come and, if we don't receive proper funding, the council will have to make many cuts to services.

“However we cannot abandon our efforts to do the right things to protect our environment - global warming will not stop just because we are living in a pandemic.”