PILES of rubbish beside the Joseph Pease monument in Darlington visibly rammed home the point this week about the casual littering of streets that costs the council £1.5m a year to clear up.

Scores of bags full of empty cans, crisp packets, takeaway wrappers and countless other items rubbish represented just one week’s worth of rubbish picked up by the Street Scene team.

Coun Bill Dixon, Darlington Borough Council’s cabinet member for neighbourhood services and community safety, said: “Sadly, some people still think it is acceptable to drop their litter in Darlington.

“Street Scene teams will continue to clear up the litter and issue fines to people caught littering, but it would be preferable if people didn’t dump litter on our streets in the first place.”

The fine for littering is £75.

More than 80 fines have been issued so far this year, a third to people caught in the town centre.

The pile was collected between Monday, March 8, and Monday of this week.

The bulk of matter dropped is food, chewing gum and cigarette butts.

Chewing gum leaves unsightly marks on paving stones and is difficult and costly to remove. Cigarette butts are particularly harmful to the environment as they can take up to 12 years to biodegrade.

During the exercise this week, Street Scene officers answered queries and provided free cigarette butt pouches to smokers.

Bins are provided across the town centre, and new cigarette and chewing gums bins were installed recently.

Shoppers were urged to make use of the facilities and think twice before tossing rubbish into the street.

To report litter and fly-tipping incidents, call 01325-388777.