Huge haul in roadside litter-pick (From The Northern Echo)

Huge haul in roadside litter-pick

3:09pm Wednesday 22nd February 2012 in Thirsk News

A TOTAL, of 23 tonnes of waste has been collected from the road and roadside verges of Hambleton during the district council’s annual spring clean.

With collections of green compostable waste suspended throughout February, the authority’s waste staff take on other duties – including extra litter collections.

They cleaned up the main A1, A19, A167, A168 and A172 as well as the town centres - with problem lay-bys along the A1 and A19 given a thorough clean up.

Other problem areas for fly tipping were visited and cleared – with construction waste, domestic white goods, TVs, household furniture, tyres, and domestic waste rmoved.

The mechanical sweepers and litter pickers also added some villages into their regular schedule.

Street Scene manager John Proud said: "Householders leave very little green waste out at this time so rather than see pointless collections take place we divert the staff to other duties.

“Judging by the amount of waste collected it shows that there is a need to do this.”

He added: This is an ongoing problem and one we will continue to work on throughout the year. The 23 tonnes equates to around 6,000 black sacks of waste.”