Braintree Council carry out deep-clean along the A120

Carried out over three weekends in March, the deep clean was in support of Keep Britain Tidy’s Great British Spring Clean campaign.

The litter blitz ran from the Felsted slip roads to Marks Farm roundabout, via Galley’s Corner.

It involved overnight working with nine members of council staff litter-picking the verges and central reservation and traffic management. 

More than one-and-a-half tonnes of general rubbish was collected including 93 bags of litter containing fast food packaging, cups, tins and bottles.

Mechanical sweeping of both sides of the carriageway was undertaken during which over 35.7 tonnes of road sweepings were removed.

Hard work - The deep clean took place across three weekends (Image: Braintree Council)

Tom Cunningham, deputy leader at Braintree Council, said: “We recognise that some of the items cleared along the A120 related to accidental vehicle damage.

"However, a large majority of what was litter picked and removed originated from litter deliberately thrown by passing vehicles or insecure vehicle loads. 

“Littering is a danger to wildlife and nature and causes harm to our environment by releasing greenhouse gases as it slowly breaks down, which contributes to the climate crisis.”

He added: “The vast majority of our residents act responsibly and bin their litter, but to all those who use the road and throw their litter out of the window, our message is simple - use the bright yellow roadside litterbins or drive your litter home.

“It currently costs Braintree district’s local taxpayers £1.56million a year to keep our district clean and tidy. 

“The deep clean of the A120 takes place twice a year, with the most recent costing over £31,000. 

“The council has undertaken many littering campaigns over the years encouraging people to use litter bins or take their litter home.”

As the popularity of dash-cams in vehicles increases, the council is asking members of the public for their help to send footage of people throwing litter from vehicles to streetscene.enforcement@braintree.gov.uk.

The street scene protection team will follow up any reports received about litter offenders and where appropriate issue a fixed penalty notice of £200.