Don't Mess With Croydon

Don't Mess with Croydon seeks to crack down on fly-tipping and other environmental crimes. Find out about community clean-ups, community Street Champions and the Love Clean Streets app.

Street Champions

What is a Street Champion?

The Street Champions are a network of residents who have volunteered to improve the environment in our local area. Champions are local people who work alongside us, Croydon Council, and our partners to encourage their fellow residents and businesses to recycle more, manage their waste responsibly and reduce instances of environmental crime such as littering and fly-tipping. 

We want to take pride in Croydon and helping the planet. To do this we need more Street Champions to get involved and join us in making a difference.

What does a Street Champion do?

  • Act as our eyes and ears to help make Croydon one of the cleanest, greenest boroughs in London.
  • Reports environmental crimes such as fly-tipping and littering via the Love Clean streets smart phone app or website
  • Organises community clean-ups and litter picks.
  • Takes before, during and after images of community clean-ups and litter pick events.
  • Supports neighbours to keep their front gardens tidy.
  • Identifies local businesses that need advice on how to dispose of waste and recycling responsibly.
  • Attends meetings with fellow residents, street champions and council representatives.
  • Reports back to the Street Champions coordinator on their activity i.e. litter picks reports and engagement with other residents.

What support do Street Champions receive?

We can help you with the following:

  • Help to organise community clean-ups and litter picks.
  • Assistance with land searches.
  • Advice on health and safety, risk assessments and preventative methods to reduce environmental crimes. 
  • Providing equipment and materials for clean-ups, including litter pickers, brooms, gloves and bags.
  • Removing all agreed waste collected on community clean-ups.
  • Advice on supporting neighbours to keep their front gardens tidy.
  • Advice on supporting local businesses to dispose of waste and recycling responsibly.
  • Sharing good news about successful clean-ups on social media.
  • Arranging quarterly meetings with the Street Champions and council representatives to discuss future clean-ups.

Schools and youth groups

If you are a school or youth group that wishes to organise a litter pick in the borough, please get in touch with us on champions@croydon.gov.uk. We can loan equipment and provide advice for your events.


Trees for streets

Trees for Streets is a project by Trees for Cities, the national urban tree charity. It is funded by the government’s Green Recovery Challenge Fund. It aims to support the planting of more than 250,000 street trees nationwide over the next 10 years. You can find more information about the scheme, and how to sponsor a tree, on our Trees for streets page.

Find out more

If you have any further questions please contact the team on champions@croydon.gov.uk / 0208 726 6200 / 07825 103788.

Community Champions