Crack down on roadside litter
Every week hundreds of man hours are spent keeping Oxfordshire’s streets clean and tidy.
Council workers using brooms and machines pick up the drink cans, crisp packets and cigarette butts people have carelessly deposited but more difficult to tackle are the verges of some of the county’s fast roads. 1.3 million pieces of litter get thrown from vehicles each week in England, but with a constant flow of heavy traffic it’s not an easy job to pick this litter up. Oxfordshire councils through, Oxfordshire Waste Partnership (OWP), have started a new venture with the Highways Agency to tackle this difficult problem.
In Abingdon Market Place from 9am to 1:30pm on Friday 18th September, staff from OWP and the Vale of White Horse District Council will be joined by Highways Agency staff to give out their car litter bags, and provide information on littering, giving people no excuse not to take their rubbish home with them.
OWP chair, Cllr John Tanner, says: “Careless drivers are spoiling Oxfordshire’s beautiful countryside, putting animals at risk and risking a £2,500 fine, when they throw litter out their windows. We want people to use a litter bag to collect their rubbish, take it home and recycle as much as possible.”
Donna Walker, Customer Service Manager for the Highways Agency in Oxfordshire, says: “We’ve done similar work with other councils and we hope working with OWP councils will be just as successful to try to reduce the £667 million it costs UK taxpayers to pick up this rubbish each year.”
Litter bags will also be available to collect free of charge from council offices across the county. Alternatively drivers are advised to reuse an old carrier bag to keep their rubbish in until they are able to find a bin.
- The roadshow will be held in Abingdon town centre on Friday 18th September with staff from The Vale of White Horse and OWP being joined by The Highways Agency to give out car litter bags.
- South Oxfordshire District Council and OWP will be running a similar event on Monday 21 September at the BP garage in Benson.
- Car litter bags supplied by the Highways Agency will be available from council offices in the following locations
- West Oxfordshire District Council, Elmfield, New Yatt Rd, Witney
- West Oxfordshire District Council, Woodgreen, Witney
- The Town Centre Shop, 3 Welch Way,Witney
- Cherwell District Council, Bodicote House, Banbury
- Banbury Town Centre, One Stop Shop, Castle Quay Shopping Centre
- Bradley Arcade, Banbury Street Wardens
- Bicester Town Centre, One Stop Shop
- Exeter Hall Kidlington One Stop Shop
- South Oxfordshire District Council offices, Benson Lane, Crowmarsh Gifford
- South Oxfordshire District Council cofices, Britwell Rd, Didcot
- Town Hall, Market Place, Henley on Thames
- Town Hall, High Street, Thame
- Council offices, 9 St Martins Street, Wallingford
- Oxford Town Hall, St Aldate's, Oxford
- Ramsay House, 10 St Ebbe's Street, Oxford
- St Aldate's Chambers, 109 St Aldate's, Oxford
- Cowley Marsh Depot, Marsh Road, Oxford
- Templars Square Customer Service Centre, 2/3 bank Court, Templars Square, Cowley, Oxford
- Vale of White Horse District Council, Abbey House, Abbey Close, Abingdon
- Vale of White Horse District Council, Grove Street, Wantage
- Esso petrol station, Marcham Road
- BP petrol station, Milton Heights
