Motorway litter dumped on verge of carriageway sparks fresh rubbish and fly-tipping campaign

Footage taken on the M58 motorway near Wigan, Gtr Manchester, yesterday (Mon) shows the side of the carriageway strewn with discarded food wrappers and bottles. Campaign group Clean Up Britain shared the footage online and slammed National Highways for not ensuring that its contractors cleaned up properly.

Food wrappers and carrier bags full of litter

The agency previously claimed that 60 per cent of the network had little or no litter. But in response to a Freedom of Information request from Clean Up Britain in 2022, they admitted: "We don’t undertake audits of our contractors’ work for litter clearance.”

Referencing that comment on social media, Clean Up Britain posted the clip and said: "What a massive dereliction of duty and waste of public money. Please just do a professional job for the £5.4 billion annual handout you get from taxpayers."

The brief clip (click to play above) shows empty water bottles, food wrappers and small carrier bags filled with rubbish strewn across the small grass verge on the side of the carriageway.

National Highways has been contacted for comment.

‘Lethal roadside restaurant’ for wildlife

Celebrity-backed Clean Up Britain, which campaigns on litter and fly-tipping along roadsides, took National Highways to court earlier this year. The Government body responsible for England's roads has been hauled into court in a landmark case over its failure to keep the nation's highways clean. Clean Up Britain founder John Read brought the case at Guildford Magistrates court, just down the A3, which is the registered address of National Highways.

In February, National Highways launched its own anti-littering campaign, urging people to stop dropping litter and to take their rubbish home. They added that it ‘can have a deadly impact on wildlife, turning verges into lethal roadside restaurants’.

A spokesperson wrote: “We’re working hard to tackle it on our roads, with our people litter-picking every day. To keep them safe we have to close motorway lanes, which delays drivers and costs millions of pounds.”