Councils winning war on litter but streets still shabby
January 29th 2007

Local councils are winning the daily battle against litter but struggling to get to grips with scrubbing and sweeping the UK’s streets according to ENCAMS’ latest Local Environment Quality Survey of England (LEQSE).

The 2006 LEQSE says local councils and authorities are making headway against litter but losing the battle against grime: For the first time in the survey’s five year history, litter levels across 12,000 UK sites are down. ENCAMS says this is due to a concerted effort from local authorities, which have invested in manpower, training and equipment to combat the litter problem.

However, ENCAMS says the increasing levels of street grime shows more sweepers could benefit from proper training – and urges more LAs to look into the ENCAMS street cleaning training course.

“Where the issue of litter can be tackled from an array of angles: enforcement, educating the public, campaigning, more bins, when dealing with detritus there is only one answer – thorough cleansing," EMCAMS director, Fiona Campbell, told Cleaning Matters.

“It’s not the case that street cleaners don’t do a good job, as they certainly put in their fair share of elbow grease. But some minor tweaking to daily routines could improve the cleanliness of our streets further making sure that street cleaners are using the right equipment and machinery at the right time can make a big difference to dirt levels.”

The results of the survey may also provide contractors and equipment manufacturers, particularly road sweeping, gum and graffiti removal kit suppliers, with renewed impetus to target local councils – particularly in the badly affected regions such as the North West.

For further information on EMCAMS and the LEQSE survey, just  click here.

More articles from Encams (The Tidy Britain Group):