Highways contractor Amey is collecting enough litter to fill five Olympic sized swimming pools from motorways in the West Midlands every year.
The rubbish collected includes everything from crisp packets to teddy bears and even a canoe.
Amey manages over 1,500km of motorways in the region through its Managing Agent Contract with the Highways Agency. It said it fills 3,000-5,000 sacks of litter each month on stretches of the of the M40, M42, M5, M6, M50 and the M54.
The contractor is backing the Highways Agency's ‘Bag it Bin it’ campaign, launched this week, to raise awareness of the litter problem on the UK's motorways.
Jonathan White, general manager at Amey, said: “A number of road users appear to be using the motorways in and around the West Midlands as a rubbish dump and it’s an ongoing battle to keep the motorways clear.
“Hundreds of man-days are spent removing the vast amount of litter each year. This not only gives road-workers exposure to unnecessary risk beside high-speed roads, it also diverts public money that would be better spent on roads maintenance and repair.”
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