Litter pickers fill 20 bags in two hours

The Litter Watch group was out and about in Tipton in a bid to tidy up the blight of litter being dumped in the local area.

Within an hour and three quarters, a four-person team had bagged 16 plastic sacks of rubbish as well as four sacks of cans which will be recycled.

Litter Watch was set up in 1997 to help Tipton residents tackle their environmental concerns and provide information and support to report litter problems – and now covers the whole of Sandwell.

It is backed by Serco.

Project co-ordinator Tim Hill said: "It was mostly just general litter that we picked up.

"We separate all the cans and recycle them and we got four bags of cans.

"We always split them up from the general waste so we can recycle some of it – that's our aim.

"We want to teach people how to recycle and need to teach people how to get rid of rubbish.

"Problem areas are identified to us by different groups and we then go there to help clear up.

"Getting the message across 'please recycle whatever you can – and use your dustbins as well' is important for us.

"It is really frustrating. We go out three days a week litter picking and every time we go out we get a minimum of 10 bags – no matter where we go.

"And that is in two to three and a half hours maximum."