The Council sweeps 2,600 tonnes of litter (enough to fill an Olympic size swimming pool) from the district’s streets every year costing £1.3 million pounds to local council tax payers.

In addition, more than 700,000 bags of litter are collected each year from England’s roads at huge cost to the public and risk to maintenance staff. Much of this is hurled from cars, vans and lorries and ends up stuck in hedges or piled high at traffic lights costing council tax payers a staggering £500 million a year to clean the streets of England.

Throwing litter from a car is disgusting and turns roadsides into a dumping ground for fast food litter, cigarette stubs, drinks cartons and apple cores.

Shockingly, nearly a quarter of people (23%) admit to dropping litter from their vehicle, according to latest Keep Britain Tidy research.

A month long car litter campaign will see posters going up nationwide to remind motorists of their responsibilities.

Nearly 100 councils in England have signed up to the Keep Britain Tidy campaign to gather evidence on when and where car litter offences occur. They will also be campaigning to raise awareness of the problem.

People will also be asked to report incidents of littering from vehicles on the Keep Britain Tidy website www.keepbritaintidy.org. This information will go on a database and used to analyse trends in littering from vehicles.

Anyone wanting to report litter being thrown from vehicles may also contact Ashfield District Council on 0800 183 84 84 or e-mail: tellus@ashfiled-dc.gov.uk. The Council will follow up this information and send a letter to the vehicle owner concerned, warning them not to throw litter from their vehicle and advising them of possible penalties.

Enforcement Officers will be out on patrol throughout the district and anyone identified littering may be issued with a £75 Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN’s). So far this year 30 FPN’s have been issued to local residents and people visiting Ashfield for littering related offences. Littering also includes cigarette ends, chewing gum and bio-degradable material such as apple cores, banana skins etc. as they have the potential to attract vermin.