The nation is ‘brighter and more beautiful’ from today through the efforts of thousands of people from across England and Wales turning out to tackle grot spots.

The major environmental campaign driven by young CSV volunteers aged 16-25 marks the climax of the ITV Big Clean Up at 19 locations from Sunderland to Plymouth on Sunday 17th September 2006.

ITV Big Clean Up is a major partnership between CSV, the UK's largest volunteering charity and v a new charity to inspire a million more young volunteers by 2010, with backing from government.

Throughout the country, volunteers have bashed down scrub, cleared graffiti, dug ponds, cleared reeds and shifted tonnes of rubbish. Business in the Community's Cares initiative simultaneously rallied businesses and their employees to complete challenges in around 60 projects around the UK.

Tasks were many and varied:

• Ipswich divers pulled out of the water 87 shopping trolleys, 2 motorbikes, 29 bicycles, and a small safe without its door

• Plymouth broke the unofficial UK beach clean record – 200 people collected half a ton of rubbish

• Petersfield were aided by a litter picking dog – owned by a volunteer from the Friends of Petersfield Heath. The dog has been trained to spot litter, pick it up and drop it into bins.

Nicholas Brooks, (22) was the lead volunteer for the project in Burnt Oak, London. He said: “What’s been achieved is extraordinary. Gardens have been created, graffiti removed and rubbish cleared from streets in a matter of hours. The whole operation shows the extraordinary power that individuals and communities can have.”

Speaking at the ITV Big Clean Up in Burnt Oak in London, Environment Minister, David Miliband, said: “I think that activities like this are important. Every community group, every local authority, every London wide body that contributes towards a cleaner, safer, greener London is making a contribution to a place where people want to live and work in the future. “

The locations for the 19 Big Clean Ups that were open to the public were: Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, East Grinstead, Gateshead, Ipswich (Park), Ipswich (Riverside), Knowsley, London (Burnt Oak), London (Lee Valley), Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, Oxford, Petersfield, Plymouth (Jennycliff), Plymouth (Mountbatten), Preston, Sheffield and Sunderland.

The ITV Big Clean Up paves the way for CSV Make a Difference Day, the UK’s biggest single day of volunteering. More than 100,000 people are expected to take part in the campaign during the two weeks either side of Saturday 28th October. Police, actors, families, faith leaders and bankers, including staff from Barclays are amongst the army of people taking part. Further information or to register: www.csv.org.uk/difference

Further information about ITV’s Big Clean-Up is at: www.csv.org.uk/bigcleanup

Further press information and photos:  Jason Tanner, CSV Press Office on 020 7812 0038 / 07941 433598 or Paul Donohoe on 020 7812 0037

Notes for editors

1. CSV (Community Service Volunteers) is the UK’s leading volunteering and training charity and creates opportunities for people to take an active part in the life of their community through volunteering, training and community action. Each year 195,000 people give 4.9 million hours of their time as volunteers through CSV. www.csv.org.uk CSV engages tens of thousands of young people in volunteering and mentoring projects every year. They divert people from crime, enable people with disabilities to live independently, work with refugees and tackle illiteracy at schools.

2. ITV has historically run a series of important social action campaigns including the award-winning ITV’s Britain on the Move which inspired 1.2 million viewers to get active on ITV’s National Walking Day. Last year the ITV Local Heroes initiative joined the Year of the Volunteer to reward those volunteers who give up their time to help others. ITV takes its role in protecting the environment seriously and this forms a major part of the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility agenda. ITV increased the amount of waste recycled by 33% in 2004. Impact on the environment was reduced further by a 42% reduction in the amount of waste disposed to landfill. In 2004, both our energy use and CO2 emissions reduced by approximately 6% compared with 2003.

3. v is the new youth volunteering charity which aims to inspire a million more young volunteers aged 16-25. It was set up upon the recommendation of the Russell Commission which outlined a new national framework for youth action and engagement following a nationwide consultation. ITV’s Big Clean Up Day is funded under v’s Match Fund agreement. Under this scheme, suitable organisations (such as CSV) that can secure private sector support to create or extend volunteering opportunities for 16-25 year olds, may be able to have that support matched by v. For further details about v please visit: www.wearev.com

4. ITV have linked with Cares, a Business in the Community initiative, to get employees involved in around 60 projects all over the UK. Cares is the main business led employee volunteering programme in the UK. Employees give their time and skills to the communities in which they live and work. Further information about Business in the Community can be found at the website www.bitc.org.uk.