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Has Stratford-upon-Avon got a litter problem? A post in a Stratford Facebook group asking whether the town has “lost a bit of pride”, after the writer saw takeaway wrappers and beer cans lying around even though there were bins nearby, drew more than 150 comments. So who actually cleans the town’s streets, and what can you do when you spot a mess?
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Who cleans Stratford’s streets
Street cleaning in Stratford-upon-Avon is the job of Stratford-on-Avon District Council, which does it with its contractor, Biffa Waste Services. The council says the routine work covers:
- mechanical sweeping of kerbed roads
- litter picking on roads and pavements
- emptying and cleaning litter bins and dog waste bins
- removing fly-tipped rubbish, graffiti, flyposting, dead animals and discarded needles from the public highway
This summer the council also got a £2,250 grant from the Chewing Gum Task Force, run by the charity Keep Britain Tidy, for Biffa to clear chewing gum from targeted streets in Stratford-upon-Avon and Southam in August.
How to report litter, fly-tipping or an overflowing bin
The district council takes reports through its online street cleansing form on its street cleansing page, or by phone on 01789 260616. It has a separate page for reporting fly-tipping. A photo and an exact location (a street name and a nearby landmark or shop) make a report much easier to act on.
The council’s street cleansing page links to its cleaning schedule, but it doesn’t publish how quickly reports are dealt with.
The volunteers who pick up after everyone else
Rubbish Friends is a small Stratford charity that has been organising litter picks since 2017. It runs picks around the town, lends equipment and gives advice to groups and businesses that want to organise their own, and has worked with local schools: one mass clean involved 100 students from Stratford-upon-Avon High School. You can find the group on Facebook as Rubbish Friends (Stratford Upon Avon).
Keep Britain Tidy’s national clean-up campaigns are another way to join a local pick.
The simplest fix
The litter in that post could have gone in a bin a few steps away. If a bin is full, take your rubbish home, and if the same bin overflows every weekend, report it so the council can look at emptying it more often.
Alex Harrington
Alex Harrington grew up in Stratford-upon-Avon and runs What's up, Stratford? as an independent guide to the town.
