Littering is for losers

West Berkshire Council has been carrying out measures aimed at protecting the beauty of the natural environment within the district and minimising incidents of littering and fly-tipping.

Keep Britain Tidy, a national environmental charity, estimate that two million pieces of litter are dropped in the UK every day and the national cost to tax payers for street cleaning is over £1 billion a year.

In West Berkshire, in 2022 we collected 400 tonnes of litter through litter picking activities and from our public litter bins. We have over 600 litter bins across the district and we litter pick and sweep the equivalent of 860 miles of road space per year. However, littering and fly-tipping remain frequently reported problems and this results in increased use of the council's time and resources in clearing up incidents.

The council has recently employed two Waste Enforcement Officers to help tackle fly-tipping and littering across the district. We are rolling out an anti-littering and fly-tipping campaign which will enable us to share messages with our local residents and businesses about how we can work together to minimise littering and fly-tipping.

Councillor Steve Ardagh-Walter, Executive Member for Environment and Transformation at West Berkshire Council, said:

"West Berkshire is a beautiful place to live, work and visit but unfortunately the council has to spend some of its resources clearing up littering and fly-tipping due to the careless acts of a small minority of people.
 

"We ask that people should use available litter bins responsibly and, if litter bins are full, that you take your rubbish home with you and dispose of it in your kerbside bins.
 

"We hope that by increasing our presence and communications this sends out a clear message that fly-tipping and littering will not be tolerated within West Berkshire. We will not hesitate to take action against those found to be breaking the law and ruining our beautiful district."

Reporting litter

We work to keep our roads and streets clean, removing litter, emptying bins and clearing debris. To do this, we operate a detailed street cleansing, litter picking and weed treatment programme throughout the district.

If you spot a problem with litter in a public place, please report it here.

If litter is on private land, it is the responsibility of the land owner to remove litter and keep the area clean - you should contact them directly.

Recycling litter bins

You can now recycle plastic bottles and cans on the go in Newbury and Hungerford town centres.

Please make sure your plastic bottles and cans are empty before placing them in the recycling bin.