Environmental campaigning charity Keep Britain Tidy (KBT) has appointed Allison Ogden-Newton as its new CEO.

The founder of social think tank the Transition Institute and current CEO of the World Child Cancer charity will take up the role in August. She will take over from Interim Chief Executive Richard McIlwain, following Phil Barton’s departure from the charity in March.

Ogden-Newton has also previously campaigned and fundraised on the issues of equal opportunities, health and the social economy over 11 years as CEO of WEB Group Ltd, which taught construction skills to unemployed women in London, and served as Chief Executive of Social Enterprise London.

As CEO of KBT, she will be overseeing the charity’s range of programmes and campaigns based around litter prevention and waste reduction. KBT’s activities include ‘Tidy Up’ days, workshops in schools and training courses for private and public sector employees, as well as focused campaigns and the Tidy Britain All Party Parliamentary Group.

Research published by KBT in December last year found that recycling just half of the items littered in England would have an economic benefit of at least £14.8 million. It also estimated that litter-related fires in England cost around £70.6m a year, while street cleaning costs English taxpayers almost £1 billion a year.

Issues faced ‘affect quality of life for every citizen’

Commenting on the appointment, KBT Chair Dinah Nichols said: “Our organisation has transformed itself from a grant-funded body into a completely independent campaigning charity, and Allison’s wealth of experience in leading social enterprises will be invaluable as we grow the business and strengthen our partnerships and supporter base.

“The issues that Keep Britain Tidy champions – litter, the quality of our public spaces and waste – affect the quality of life of every single citizen and the need for an independent, campaigning voice for a cleaner greener country has never been greater.”

Ogden-Newton said: “The job of keeping Britain tidy has never been more important. On the one hand, more people than ever value the environment while others increasingly abuse the communities they live in with unsightly and hazardous litter.

“There is no doubt that issues on which Keep Britain Tidy tirelessly campaigns are resonating with communities, businesses and individuals. We can see this in the recent focus both of the national media and Parliament; public opinion is turning against the mindset that thinks that littering is acceptable.

“I look forward to working with both the new government and the businesses that want to tackle the problems we face as we look to develop new approaches to change behaviour and create the difference we all want to see – a country of which we can all be proud.”

Learn more about Keep Britain Tidy.