MORE than 450 bags of rubbish were cleared over a nine mile stretch of road in Co Antrim in a recent litter pick spearheaded by a former rapid response paramedic.
When Abe Agnew (72) retired from the Ambulance Service, he rolled up his sleeves and began to tidy up parts of his home town of Larne.
What started out with just one man has now become a rubbish collection initiative called 'Eco Ranger', with more than 300 volunteers.
"It has inspired people to do more, they are all brilliant decent people and it's all cross-community," he said.
On Saturday, volunteers combed a stretch of the A8 dual carriageway collecting 450 bags of rubbish as well as car bumpers, tyres and wine bottles.
Mr Agnew said he regularly lifts thousands of pieces of litter every week.
"I've done it for a long time now, I wanted to instil a bit of pride back into the town again," he said.
"I used to be rapid response paramedic and worked all over Northern Ireland. I was flabbergasted by the amount of rubbish about the towns I used to see, it's as if people have lost pride in the place that the live.
"The origins of it was that I started out in a little area in Larne and I just kept going. Around half a dozen like-minded people joined me as I couldn't keep up with it all on my own.
"Soon after there were around 30 people and now the number is in excess of 300."
The team of volunteers have become known as the 'Eco Rangers' and cover more than 50 miles of road from Carnlough to Carrickfergus.
"Now each village has its own ranger, it seems to have re-awakened something in people, that they wanted to do something for the place where they live," he said.
"We cover from Carnlough to Carrickfergus and all the villages in between - Islandmagee, Kilwaughter, Ballynure.
"It has inspired people to do more, they are all brilliant decent people and it's all cross-community - people who never had the opportunity to work together before, they have something in common in trying to improve the place where they live.
"There's such a range of people, from an accountant, to a farmer, bank manager and we recently had a Church of Ireland minister and his wife, so it's all sorts of people, irrespective of their background.
"Every town has its own eco ranger, everyone reports what has been done in their town, village or street every day, which helps us to keep track of what areas have been tidied.
"It is so rewarding, it gives a great sense of satisfaction. I couldn't have done it without the help of so many volunteers who are now looking after their owns areas and keeping them tidy."
Trevor Cuthbert, who lives in Jordanstown, was among the volunteers involved in the litter pick on Saturday. He drove one of two Land Rovers used to collect the hundreds of bags of rubbish.
"As people were filling bags, they then left them at the side of the road and we came along and collected them," he said.
"I must say it was a very satisfying day's work. It was a real eye-opener and felt good to be involved in helping."
