The clear-up took place on World Rivers Day to make the River Nene as safe and pleasant a place as possible for wildlife, and pedestrians walking along the banks.

More than 20 people turned up to clear a stretch of the river between Orton Longueville and the Town Bridge as part of the event, organised by Anglian Water.

And the volunteers were shocked at what they found lurking at the bottom of the river.

Among the litter and debris cleared from the two-mile stretch of water were eight shopping trolleys, eight traffic cones, bike wheels and the oven, along with food wrappers, drinks cans and bottles, which filled 30 plastic bags.

In fact, there was so much dragged up from the river banks that the group needed to borrow a tractor to move the huge pile to where it could be cleared.



It is now hoped that more regular clean-up operations will take place along the river in the future.

Martin Ballard is contracts performance manager for Asset Management, responsible for setting up the Peterborough Nene RiverCare Group, which helped organise the volunteers for the clean-up.

He said he was amazed by what he found dumped in the water.

He said: "The result was hugely satisfying, although the amount of rubbish was astounding.

"We could not have moved the heavier items if it hadn't been for the help of Rail World's tractor and trailer.

"It was a great joint effort, and we will repeat it twice a year now, hopefully involving more people from across Peterborough."

Once the rubbish had been cleared from the side of the river, it was collected by Peterborough City Council staff, to dispose of safely.

RiverCare project co-ordinator Greg Hall added: "It was great to see volunteers from different organisations coming together and making such a difference.

"It was one of the best clean-ups that I have been involved with to date."

Mandy Somers will co-ordinate future Rivercare events. She can be contacted on e-mail: mSomers@anglianwater.co.uk.

Elsewhere online:
RiverCare website.