Littering motorists on England’s motorways and A-roads have cost taxpayers £14.5million over the past three years. Exclusive figures obtained by Auto Express revealed that over 364,000 bags of rubbish have been collected since 2013.
According to data from Highways England, roadside crews have picked up over 333 sacks of litter every day along the 4,300-mile Strategic Road Network, with an estimated cost of £40 for each bag collection – roughly equal to the price of fixing a pothole. It means taxpayers have shelled out more than £4.8m a year on cleaning up after motorists.
The numbers look to be only the tip of the iceberg, too, as Highways England is responsible for just motorways and A-roads. A 2015 department for Transport report suggests the total bill to taxpayers could be much higher when local roads across Great Britain are considered.
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AA president Edmund King OBE told Auto Express: “More than a quarter of drivers think that people throwing rubbish out the window is the most annoying habit in the summer.
“Car litter louts are a needless menace who cost the country millions, spoil our environment and put workers’ lives at risk. There is no excuse for tossing out litter. Car occupants should bag it and bin it.”
In a bid to reduce roadside littering and educate motorists on the matter, Highways England published its ‘Litter Strategy’ in January 2014, but collection rates have actually increased since then, with 139,952 bags filled between 2015 and 2016.
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Highways England project manager Michael Hoult commented: “Our contractors collect vast amounts of litter from our roads every year; we’d much rather they spent their time carrying out other essential maintenance work.
“The litter on our roads can cause a hazard to drivers, workers and wildlife, so I’d urge everyone to keep a bag in their car to use for rubbish, and then put it in the bin when they get home.”
Opinion
Joe Finnerty, Consumer editor
This figure for rubbish collection is phenomenal – plus it’s a completely preventable outlay if people just cleaned up their act.
Chucking rubbish out of the window is antisocial, unsightly and lazy. What’s wrong with using the in-car waste bin until you get to your destination or a services?
The fact it costs £40 per bag is worth noting, as it’s roughly the amount needed to fill a pothole – of which we know there are plenty.
If this near-£5m a year clean-up bill was reduced, extra cash could be ploughed into repairs and maintenance. To put it in pure numbers, around 120,000 potholes per year could have been filled rather than wasting workers’ time.
What do you think about these statistics? Have your say in the comments below!