Two tonnes of rubbish was collected from the A1 in just one day as part of a new initiative to tackle high-speed litter louts.

Bosses in Rutland have teamed up with South Kesteven District Council (SKDC) to battle the problem.

A 12-week pilot scheme started earlier this year with SKDC's specialist street cleaning crews working alongside Rutland County Council workers on the A1.

A deep clean was carried out at the start of the three-month period – with 2,140kg of waste being collected.

The revelation came at last week's full Rutland County Council meeting following a question from Cllr Kiloran Heckels.

The Conservative councillor said: "I'm always horrified by the amount of litter I see on the A1. It does seem particularly bad when you enter Rutland. What can be done to clear this up?"

New council leader Christine Wise (Lib Dem) said: "We are responsible for this as an authority. 

"The first thing we should do is to ask people to please stop throwing litter. It is coming out of people's car windows. That has to be our first response.

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"We do carry out litter checks across the county and littler is very low. The exception to this is the A1.

"This will remain a problem as long as people continue to drop litter. I can tell you that the other authorities along the A1 have the same issue. 

"Litter picking on a high-speed stretch of road like this is not a straightforward task and while we expect litter crews to carry out scheduled works on the A1, we don't want them to put themselves in danger."

The meeting heard the council installed 25 bin housings for the laybys on the A1 last year – but that some had already been damaged by HGVs.

Councillors were told that talks are ongoing with National Highways to install permanent bases for the bins within the verges of the laybys, where they cannot be flattened by lorries.

Cllr Wise added: "We're also currently working with South Kesteven District Council to pilot the use of their specialist street cleaning crews. 

"On February 11, a team of 12 worked along the layby within Rutland to carry out a deep clean. 

"And it's rather shocking to note that a total of 2,140kg of waste was removed.

"Following the deep clean, a 12-week pilot began with an additional weekly visit to these laybys by the SKDC team on top of the scheduled weekly visits carried out by our street cleansing contractor to test if this makes a marked difference to the current levels of litter being experienced."