Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP) has announced it is supporting this year’s Great British Spring Clean as part of a long-term partnership with Keep Britain Tidy, encouraging retailers to engage their community in clearing up their local area.

The Great British Spring Clean is one of the country’s largest litter initiatives that attracted more than 370,000 people, collecting 650,000 bags of rubbish, across the UK during last year’s campaign.

Retailers who want to host their own Community Clean Up event this spring can download a free ‘CCEP Guide to Hosting a Community Clean-Up’ on the sustainability section of the CCEP Customer Hub website.

Stores also have access to promotional posters that can be edited and displayed in store. Furthermore, CCEP is providing a limited number of free Community Clean Up Starter Kits which include litter pickers, gloves and high-visibility vests.

Those retailers who share their experiences, after holding a clean up event, could also win £1,000 for a local charity or cause of their choice. (Rules are available on www.cokecustomer.co.uk)

CCEP sales director for wholesale & convenience Gary Black said: “The Great British Spring Clean presents a real opportunity for retailers to engage with people in their local areas. We know that many convenience retailers are hubs of their communities and have a unique relationship with their customers.

“Hosting a Community Clean-up event during the Great British Spring Clean provides an opportunity for retailers to get involved in a good cause whilst also building relationships with people in their local communities, many of whom will be shoppers in their stores.”

The ambition for the Great British Spring Clean in 2019 is to encourage more than half a million people to get involved in the initiative. As well as being supported by CCEP, the Spring Clean event will also take place for a whole month, between 22 March and 23 April, instead of the usual one weekend.

Keep Britain Tidy chief executive Allison Ogden-Newton added: “It’s fantastic to have Coca-Cola European Partners supporting the annual Great British Spring Clean. We hope retailers get on board as well to support the event, and boost our efforts to mobilise half a million people to clean up our streets, rivers, beaches and parks.

“Last year, the campaign removed more than 630,000 bags of litter from Britain’s public spaces, leaving them safer and cleaner. This year we aim to recycle as much of the collected litter as we can too, as we continue in our mission to eliminate litter, end waste and improve public spaces.”