This was the scene over the weekend after 'disgusting' levels of rubbish were left strewn across Bristol city centre. Takeaway boxes, cans and other litter were seen strew across the Centre early on Sunday morning (August 7) left from the previous night.
The video was shared on Twitter on Sunday by resident Alastair Cameron (@TheMushyPea) who criticised the condition the city centre was left in at the weekend.
"Was up early this morning. The absolute state of Bristol town centre. @bristolwaste doing their best but really disgusting. Fat tax on takeaway boxes needed," he wrote in the post.
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Takeaway boxes are currently difficult to recycle. They are often made out of polystyrene - a type of plastic - which doesn't biodegrade and instead deteriorates as a result of the sun posing a real threat to fish and other wildlife.
A spokesperson for Bristol Waste said: “Our street cleaning crews work incredibly hard to keep Bristol clean and accessible for everyone to enjoy. They start early so the city is clean again before most people are awake, but it can take hours to clean up after a busy night.
"As the weather heats up and more people are spending time outdoors, we see a significant increase in litter. Over the summer we put out more bins, and carry out more collections, but we still see an increase in items littered on the city’s streets.
“Litter is not only unsightly, it can be dangerous for people, the environment and animals. We’d like to remind everyone to please use the litter bins available or to take their litter home with them if the bins are full. Leaving litter, even if by a bin, counts as fly-tipping and could lead to a prosecution.”
“There are around 100 high-tech bins in and around the centre which use solar power to crush the waste inside allowing them to hold more than eight regular bins. They also email our teams when they’re full. (A handy hint for users, if you don’t fancy using the handle, look down and you’ll see a handy foot pedal which also opens the bin!)”.
The city often battles high levels of rubbish in the warmer months when the city welcomes more visitors for events during the summer. Pictures from Harbour Festival last month showed mountains of rubbish abandoned next to already overflowing bins as tens of thousands poured into the city.
Many BristolLive readers suggested that larger bins were needed to combat the higher levels of litter in the city during events.
Commenter Newman wrote: "The bins look the same size as those issued to houses - why not supply several very large bins (as seen on streets in Spain). Easy to place and easy to remove."
"[In] Plymouth, their public bins are massive and are plentiful. Extremely rare to see any rubbish carelessly discarded," said Malski.
Newhaven21 added: "Personally I was quite shocked at the lack of recycling bins, hundreds of empty cans and bottles were just put into ordinary bins or on the ground, Surely as a city that is supposed to be environmentally friendly we could have organised some recycling facilities."
Excess litter or overflowing bins can be reported to Bristol City Council through its website where residents can request a street clean.
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