Kingston Ramblers took the fight against plastic litter to the London Loop, a popular walking route, on Sunday (August 18).

Nine members of the borough walking society started near Berrylands Station, Surbiton, working their way upstream along the Hogsmill through Elmbridge Meadows, the Hogsmill Open Space, and then to Barrow Hill in Epsom.

Battling through heavy wind and rain initially, the walkers returned six bulging bags full of landfill waste.

Three bags of recyclable waste were also collected as the team fought to keep the community and ecology in the area as clean unpolluted as possible.

Kingston Rambler Barbara Crow cited the dangers of plastic pollution in the region and beyond as a big motivation for the group's work:

"I am particularly pleased we managed to get plastic litter to recycling.

"Plastics that get blown into the Hogsmill will eventually enter the Thames and the North Sea.

"As plastic disintegrates, the particles are pervasive, contaminating oceans, rain, air, and the whole food chain," she pointed out.

Ms Crow said that most of the waste the intrepid volunteers collected was concentrated near to roads that occasionally run parallel to the popular walking route.

"We were pleased to find that there wasn’t that much litter in the green spaces themselves. Local people generally respect the value of their amenity spaces.

"Litter tended to be concentrated on the short stretches of road along the route," she said.

In July, the Ramblers launched two new volunteer schemes to help maintain, improve and promote two much-loved London walking routes: the Capital Ring and the London Loop.

The volunteers, dubbed Capital Ring Rangers and London Loop Leaders, plan to draw borough councils’ attention to any improvements that can be made to the routes.

Section 8 of the London Loop starts at the source of the Hogsmill at Bourne Hall, Epsom and, as far as possible, follows it downstream to its confluence with the Thames.

Much of the route is shared with the Hogsmill Path and The Thames Down Link paths.

The London Loop consists of 24 sections between Erith and Purfleet, running roughly around Zone 6.

It is 150 miles long and takes in some beautiful open spaces and historic buildings.