Street sweeping

Plymouth City Council, in accordance with The Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the code of practice on litter and refuse, arranges the cleansing of designated public land and highways. We try and minimise the amount of street littering by providing an effective street cleansing services as well as the enforcement of litter related legislation and anti-litter education campaigns.

The Street Sweeping Team provides regular mechanical and manual sweeping of all adopted road on a scheduled basis. Every road is usually swept either daily, weekly, fortnightly depending on the area of the road. Obviously, busy high streets will need to be swept much more regularly than quiet residential roads. Very busy shopping areas, such as the city centre, are swept continuously throughout the day, seven days a week

Manual sweepers remove litter and rubbish from the pavement or grass verge, they also remove larger items of litter from the gutters. Mechanical sweepers are used to clean the gutters and road ways.

Network Rail have carried out measures to prevent birds from roosting under railway bridges by suspending a netting barrier below the bridges. Street Sweeping still carry out washing on the pavement and roads underneath railway bridges to tackle any mess left by pigeons as and when required.

What can you do to help?

Your help is needed to make Plymouth brighter and cleaner:

• always use a litter bin or take your litter home, remember that litter dropping is a criminal offence and you could be fined up to £2500
• please do not drop chewing gum, wrap it and bin it, chewing gum is very expensive to remove
• always pick up your dog's waste and dispose using the dog waste bins located around the city
• do not fly tip, either use our bulky waste collection service or dispose of unwanted household items at our local recycling centres
• help by keeping the pavements and verges outside your house free from litter

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