Fly-tippers have dumped 2.5 tonnes of rubbish in an alleyway behind a city centre street.
Liverpool City Council has joined forces with Keep Britain Tidy to clean up the mess left in the alleyway behind Bold Street, where 12 abandoned bins, 45 pallets and 2.5 tonnes of fly-tipped waste were found. It comes after the environmental charity carried out an inspection of more than 300 sites across the city, which found Liverpool's litter and graffiti to be three times the national average.
Following the findings, the council is launching a year-long environmental action programme to improve its results, with an initial focus on litter in parks and dog fouling this summer. Liverpool City Council said it already spends £9.5m a year cleaning up litter, has invested more than £8m in its alleyways programme to create safe and cleaner neighbourhoods, and is rolling out improved litter bins in the city’s major parks.
READ MORE: No breakthrough as Arriva Merseyside strikes head into day three
The alleyways behind Bold Street are being monitored with CCTV in a bid to catch fly-tippers and prosecute them. Plans are also being put in place for a new type of bin to help the city tackle the issue of black bag waste for more than 27,000 households.
Keep Britain Tidy will carry out a follow up survey across the city next January to assess the impact of the new programme.
Joanne Anderson, Mayor of Liverpool, who is also the political lead for Waste Management in the City Region, said: “If we want to seriously address the climate change crisis, Liverpool needs to take significant steps towards becoming a zero-waste city – and that is going to require a radical rethink of how we store, collect and recycle waste.
“I’ve launched a major review of this entire process and am currently consulting with community groups, businesses and schools to understand how we can deliver this in a smarter way. Our new partnership with Keep Britain Tidy is part of the journey to analyse the challenge we face and to identify the solutions, particularly at street and neighbourhood level.
“Everyone has a part to play in making our communities clean and tidy and the legacy of that will have huge consequences, economically and environmentally, which our future generations will greatly benefit from.”
READ NEXT:
Drug ring boss found dead in prison with no explanation
B&M fined £1m as electrician's body 'blew up to four times its normal size'
House frozen in time goes on the market
Cunning plan to abolish selfish pavement parking in 'hotspot' used for 'car meets'
Men in balaclavas banging on door leads to cannabis farm bust
