Plea after dozens of PPE gloves found dumped in Hartlepool street

Vanessa Pickering, 29, found the blue gloves in the Stockton Road area while she was on her way to work. She shared a short video which shows the gloves scattered by the roadside.

“When I opened my curtains on the morning, I noticed all the gloves spread across the path like they had been dumped,” she said.

Vanessa contacted the Hartlepool Big Town Tidy Up group to ask for advice. Soon, refuse collectors had arrived to take the gloves away.

But the find led to Hartlepool Borough Council urging people to dispose of PPE properly.

Councillor John Tennant, Chair of Hartlepool Borough Council’s Neighbourhood Services Committee, said: “The overwhelming majority of residents are helping by taking litter home with them but it’s really important we dispose of personal protective equipment safely.“Masks, gloves and other PPE can’t be recycled and should be thrown in the bin instead.”

Vanessa said: “I think the litter in Hartlepool has become more of a problem in recent years but as we now have Covid, it seems to be worse. Not with the usual plastic litter, but with PPE protection such as gloves and masks.

“I think the public need to be conscious of how they are disposing of their litter. Be aware that not only can disease be spread this way, but litter can contaminate oceans and danger wildlife and our planet too.”

Vanessa and her sister Natalie Chambers, both pictured, own Totes Eco which is a plastic-free company making alternatives to items.

Vanessa is also a member of the Big Town Tidy Up group on Facebook. It has more than 1,000 members.

It has already taken 4,000 bags of other people’s rubbish off the streets of the town and they won’t be letting up in their battle for clean streets.

It has the support Hartlepool Borough Council in their efforts to make a difference and want to get across the message that ‘this is everyone’s fight’.

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