Nearly half a million to clean our streets

In the year 2008/2009 412,364 was spent on picking up litter and ensuring the district’s streets are clean.

Across Northern Ireland almost 100,000 is spent every single day by the Department of the Environment on street cleaning.

Environment Minister Edwin Poots said people could save valuable pounds by cleaning up the streets and taking home litter.

"We all share responsibility for tackling the blight of street litter,” said the minister.

“By changing our attitudes and behaviour, not only could we benefit financially, we can also improve the quality of our environment.

“Belfast City Council alone spent over 10.8million last year cleaning its streets. Eight other councils have spent more than 1million each on clearing up litter.

“This is money that could be spent on improving facilities and services for ratepayers. Naturally there is a variance between how much each council pays to clear up litter but the bottom line is that they are all paying too much.

"I ask everyone to think about how we dispose of our rubbish and to take pride in their local area. Money your councils spend on cleaning litter from our street could be put to use improving other services such as our parks and playgrounds."