2,140kg of waste was collected
Author: Steven Thompson, LDRSPublished fifth Apr 2026
Two tonnes of rubbish was collected from the A1 in simply one day as half of a brand new initiative to deal with high-speed litter louts.
Bosses in Rutland have teamed up with South Kesteven District Council (SKDC) to battle the issue.
A 12-week pilot scheme began earlier this 12 months with SKDC’s specialist road cleansing crews working alongside Rutland County Council employees on the A1.
A deep clear was carried out at the beginning of the three-month interval – with 2,140kg of waste being collected.
The revelation got here ultimately week’s full Rutland County Council assembly following a query from Coun Kiloran Heckels.
The Conservative councillor stated: “I’m always horrified by the amount of litter I see on the A1. It does seem particularly bad when you enter Rutland. What can be done to clear this up?”
New council chief Christine Wise (Lib Dem) stated: “We are responsible for this as an authority.
“The first thing we should do is to ask people to please stop throwing litter. It is coming out of people’s car windows. That has to be our first response.
“We do carry out litter checks across the county and littler is very low. The exception to this is the A1.
“This will remain a problem as long as people continue to drop litter. I can tell you that the other authorities along the A1 have the same issue.
“Litter picking on a high-speed stretch of road like this is not a straightforward task and while we expect litter crews to carry out scheduled works on the A1, we don’t want them to put themselves in danger.”
The assembly heard the council put in 25 bin housings for the laybys on the A1 final 12 months – however that some had already been broken by HGVs.
Councillors have been advised that talks are ongoing with National Highways to put in everlasting bases for the bins inside the verges of the laybys, the place they can’t be flattened by lorries.
Coun Wise added: “We’re also currently working with South Kesteven District Council to pilot the use of their specialist street cleaning crews.
“On February 11, a team of 12 worked along the layby within Rutland to carry out a deep clean.
“And it’s rather shocking to note that a total of 2,140kg of waste was removed.
“Following the deep clean, a 12-week pilot began with an additional weekly visit to these laybys by the SKDC team on top of the scheduled weekly visits carried out by our street cleansing contractor to test if this makes a marked difference to the current levels of litter being experienced.”
