A Cornish pensioner spent part of 2023 on a personal crusade by picking up litter while travelling around the length and breadth of England.

Ruth Major, 79, put her free bus pass to good use as she trekked around the country on 59 buses to collect around 100,000 pieces of rubbish.  

The retired teacher’s three-week journey began in her home town of Redruth before travelling up and arriving at Berwick-upon-Tweed on the Scottish border. 

Ruth’s nationwide litter-picking trips began in 2016 when she took to the buses to travel from Oldham, where she was living at the time, to Paignton. 

That same year she completed four journeys in total which saw her visit Newcastle and Carlisle in the north to Paignton and London in the south, as well as locations that coincided with her family’s history.

Her inspiration stems from a litter campaign started by an Englishman in France to pick up one piece of rubbish from the streets every day. 

The Beautify Britain campaign follows this ethos and Ruth has helped promote  it all around the country to encouraging the public to act on litter by performing this simple step.  

Across social media, the page Rubbish Ruth’s Rambles traces her steps across the country and is a place where Ruth posts pictures of herself putting items in bins across towns and cities far and wide, helping her campaign to gain momentum and support. 

This year she is planning to travel once again while continuing her inspirational work to combat litter across the nation.  

• For the latest news on Ruth’s litter-picking adventures, visit rubbishruthsrambles.co.uk