National Motorway Litter Campaign

Litter

Highways England is calling on drivers to join them in doing their bit to reduce litter levels on the nation’s motorways.

Litter presents a serious safety risk besides being unsightly and a risk to wildlife and the environment, as we reported when Dacorum Borough Council installed litter signs on the A41.

Around 200,000 bags of litter are collected from the motorway network every year and that is why Highways England is taking part in Keep Britain Tidy’s Great British Spring Clean again this year to help encourage to keep the country clean.

Highways England’s head of customer and operational requirements, Freda Rashdi, said: ‘Litter is an important national issue and we’re pleased to be able to support the Great British Spring Clean.

‘Litter is not only unsightly as well as a risk to wildlife and the environment, but it also puts our workers at risk collecting it and it diverts time and money that could be better spent on improving the network.

‘If people don’t drop litter in the first place it wouldn’t need to be picked up – so we’re urging people to take their litter home instead of tossing it out of their car windows.’

The Great British Spring Clean campaign takes place between Friday 22 March and Tuesday 23 April. Highways England picks litter throughout the year and is having a particular purge which started on Friday 1 March.