Litter – it’s your money you’re throwing away

It costs Ashford Borough Council around £1 million a year to keep the borough’s streets clean and everyone living in the borough is picking up the bill through the Council Tax.

Last year we collected a massive 32,000 refuse sacks of litter weighing in at a staggering 1,400 tonnes from across the borough. Stacked on top of each other these sacks would be twice the height of Mount Everest!

Anti-Litter Campaign

To try and reduce the amount of litter dumped on our streets and make Ashford a better place to live, work and play we launched our Keep Ashford Tidy Campaign on April 1.

During April and May we will be working with the local radio and press, local businesses and schools to:

• To improve the cleanliness of the borough.
• To raise awareness of the costs and consequences of litter, graffiti, dog fouling, fly tipping and abandoned vehicles across the borough.
• To reduce the amount of litter, graffiti, dog fouling, fly tipping and abandoned vehicles across the borough.

Litter problem set to cost even more

More and more litter is being thrown on our streets every year and the cost of keeping our borough clean is spiraling.

This is set to get even worse when hundreds more streets on recent housing developments are adopted by the council.

At present the responsibility for litter clearing on estates such as Orchard Heights, Chartfields, Knights Park, Goat Lees, South Willesborough, Repton Park, parts of Godinton Park and the newer homes on Park Farm still lies with the developers. But at some point in the future these too will be have to be cleaned by us.

So where does all the litter come from?

The ever-increasing amount of litter on our streets is not something peculiar to Ashford. According to ENCAMS, who run the Keep Britain Tidy campaign, litter is on the increase across the whole of the UK. Too much packaging and a general lack of pride in our surroundings are all contributing factors. The increase in eating on the go is also blamed.

We are asking local shops, supermarkets, fast food outlets and petrol stations to support the campaign by placing campaign posters on their premises and encouraging customers to use a bin or take their litter home.

Local senior schools are also being encouraged to get on board with a special poster campaign aimed at teenagers.

It’s not just litter that makes our borough unsightly and costs the council a packet to clean up!

Our campaign also aims to reduce the amount of fly-tipping, graffiti and abandoned vehicles across the borough.

You can help the council tackle these problems by reporting incidents you spot when you are out and about.

You can report online or ring 01233 331111.

Litter Facts

• 90% of all litter found in our countryside and villages has been thrown from a vehicle
• 600 sacks of litter are collected from the borough’s streets every day
• 100 sacks are collected from Tenterden each week
• 19 tonnes of litter is collected from Ashford High Street a year

What the council could spend the money on instead

£1 million could pay for:

• 3 youth centres complete with IT, indoor sports and meeting facilities
• 10 children’s play areas
• 100 multi-use games areas
• 200 teen shelters (covered areas where youngsters can meet and chat)

Litter Bin Facts

• We empty around 800 litter bins across the borough
• The average litter bin costs around £200
• Last year we bought 80 more litter bins

Find out more about street cleaning, litter, abandoned vehicles, flytipping and graffiti.