Adur And Worthing Councils Reveal How Much Litter Was Removed From Streets

The amount of litter that was removed from the streets by Adur and Worthing Councils over the last five years has been revealed.

A freedom of information request sought to find out just how much litter had been picked up from beaches, streets and parks in the area and shows the scale of the problem.

Between April 2016 and March 2021, more than 2,000 tonnes of litter was picked up in Adur compared to more than 7,700 tonnes across Worthing in the same period.

The amount of litter removed by street sweepers and cleaners in Adur has decreased since 2016 when more than 640 tonnes was cleaned up. This is compared to the 357 tonnes of litter cleaned between April 2020 and March 2021.

In Worthing, the amount of litter has also decreased since 2016. Between April 2016 and March 2017, 1,633 tonnes of litter was removed compared to 1,574 tonnes between April 2020 and March this year.

However, the amount of litter picked up in 2020-2021 showed an increase on the year before, when 1,391 tonnes were picked up.

Adur Worthing Councils

This could have been due to the increased popularity of ‘staycations’ during lockdowns and the Coronavirus pandemic when holidaymakers flocked to British destinations and beach resorts.

Adur and Worthing Councils have recently fitted new, larger bins along the seafront and introduced on the spot fines for litter and dog fouling from June in an attempt to clean up the streets.

The data in full (amounts shown are measured in tonnes):

Adur
Date                                                Street Sweepings                    Litter
April 2016 – March 2017     379.7                                               261.26
April 2017 – March 2018     302.19                                             175.74
April 2018 – March 2019     152.81                                              175.34
April 2019 – March 2020    165.21                                               177.32
April 2020 – March 2021    158.59                                              199.08
Totals 5 year period:            1158.50                                            988.74

Worthing
Date                                                Street Sweepings                      Litter
April 2016 – March 2017     900.68                                            732.42
April 2017 – March 2018     900.17                                             683.68
April 2018 – March 2019     708.5                                               818.42
April 2019 – March 2020    526.76                                             865.1
April 2020 – March 2021    562.28                                             1012.58
Totals 5 year period:             3598.39                                          4112.20