Just days before a council consultation on litter ends, volunteers have taken to the rubbish-strewn streets and come away with 61 bags filled up.

Richard Vassiliou, of Eden Village in Sittingbourne, was one of 12 people who met at Murston Old Church.

The group managed to collect 61 bags of litter, two tyres, one discarded shopping trolley and a length of white gas pipe.

Mr Vassiliou, a train driver, said: “We all met up at Murston Old Church.

“From there, we went through the painted bollards and there is a little cut-through. Everybody went down that way and did Church Street as well and then went onto Swale Way.

“Everybody either went around individually or in pairs to pick litter.”

Mr Vassiliou, 54, has been litter-picking since he first moved to the area and has planned to do another one on Saturday, April 24.

Jackie Austin took to Queenborough Road, between Queenborough Service Station and the Cowstead Corner roundabout, and collected six bags of rubbish.

“We organised to do it through our running group, the Sittingbourne Striders,” said the 61-year-old.

Swale council is running a consultation on waste and recycling services, including street cleaning, carried out by contractors Biffa.

The Mid Kent Waste Contract is due to end in October 2023 and work has started on preparing a new one. The councils involved are Swale, Ashford and Maidstone.

Cllr Monique Bonney, (Ind), said: “The discussions are looking at specifactions of the contract, but the current problems are linked with lockdown, which has brought more people to rural areas.”

'Residents do a tremendous job and really help keep the borough clean.'

The consultation closes on April 19, to take part email cleansing@swale.gov.uk or call 01795 417888.

A spokesman for the council said: “We’re pleased to see local community groups getting together to litter pick around Swale. They do a tremendous job and really help keep the borough clean.

“We are happy to provide the equipment and arrange drop-off points with Biffa to assist the litter-picking groups.

“Our street cleansing service which includes litter-picking continued throughout lockdown this past year. Many rural areas are seeing increased footfall since lockdown began which can lead to increased litter.

“We’ve adapted our services to meet these changes by providing temporary bins in popular areas and by closely monitoring the frequency of bin emptying to ensure people always have somewhere to place their litter that isn’t the floor."

Since 2016, more than 7,500 fixed penalty notices have been handed out with 460 offenders people who refused to pay prosecuted.

“As the local council, we carry out litter picking in public areas and along most of the roadsides in the borough (apart from A249 and M2). It is always a helpful addition when local community groups get together to clean the more remote or private areas.

“With our current, 10-year waste and street cleansing service coming up for renewal in 2023, we are reviewing how we can improve the service.

People can have their say on what’s going well and what needs improving at here.

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