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Litter-pickers want community to 'feel proud'

Kurdish House A group of men and women, most of them wearing luminous yellow or green bibs, stand on a street behind a collection of purple bags of rubbish. Terraced red-brick houses stand on either side of the street behind them.Kurdish House
Kurdish House is raising money for its new building by collecting litter across West Yorkshire

A Leeds-based community group has said its 2025 litter-picking project aims to help people feel proud of their local area.

The Kurdish House community association has collected thousands of bags of rubbish over several years, with the team now hoping to fill 5,000 containers across West Yorkshire in six months.

Proceeds raised from donations will go towards its new community centre, the group said.

The first litter pick of the mission takes place on Sunday afternoon in Beeston.

Rebwar Sharazure, from Kurdish House, said they are inviting friends of the organisation to join them for the clean-ups.

"I'm an environmental activist, even back home in my country we were doing the same, because to us, the environment doesn't have a border," he said.

"Wherever you live, it is your responsibility to look after the environment."

A white building with yellow lines around the window frames stands in the sunshine. It is labelled 'Kurdish Community Centre' above a black sign saying 'The Golden Lion'.
Mr Sharazure says the group is hoping to raise £425,000 to pay off its new building by the end of June

Established in 2018, the group runs a community school with voluntary teachers and provides leisure activities for young people.

Mr Sharazure said the new community centre, at the site of the former Golden Lion pub in Beeston, is "not only for the Kurdish community, but for everyone around here".

"We do a boxing course, we're going to create another football team for older people, run some English classes and help young people find jobs," he added.

The group is hoping to raise £425,000 to pay off its new building by the end of June.

A man wearing a scarf and a dark hoodie and a man wearing a luminous green bib stand either side of some bags of rubbish. A wooden garden fence is in the background and they are both carrying litter picking tools.
Leeds councillor Ed Carlisle, pictured with Rebwar Sharazure, is backing the scheme

Councillor Ed Carlisle, who represents Hunslet and Riverside for the Green Party on Leeds City Council, said the scheme is partly about "enabling people everywhere to feel invested in their communities".

He said: "I reckon 90% of people don't drop litter, so it's then about enabling those people to feel like it's worthwhile to pick up litter, but also challenge people they know who do litter."

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