A crackdown on illegal dumping across Stoke-on-Trent has seen a 100-day target to clear 1,000 cases smashed in less than half the time.

Now, councillors are urging communities to "work with us to keep your alleyways clean".

In June, Stoke-on-Trent City Council pledged to tackle illegally dumped waste across the city, backed with extra CCTV, more clean-up crews, new enforcement officers and new tipper vans.

Over 1,000 incidents of illegal dumping have been cleared in less than 50 days.

Over 1,000 incidents have been cleared in less than 50 days (LDRS).

Council leader Jane Ashworth said: "After taking office in May, we vowed to quickly review council services, and the backlog of illegal dumping cases that our hard-working environment teams were facing immediately became glaringly obvious.

"That went alongside reports from fed-up residents who have to face the misery of rubbish dumped in their alleys and community spaces, often by their lazy and irresponsible neighbours who should know better.

"In May, we were faced with the reality of a backlog of 560 reported incidents, added with a further estimated 500 unreported incidents with a turnaround time of 30 days from reporting to clearing. We put in place swift action to tackle that.

"But keeping our streets clear isn't a matter for the council alone. We will never be able to keep every street clear all of the time. We know residents are fiercely proud of our city and just as we all wouldn't expect people to dump rubbish in our gardens, we mustn't accept it being dumped in our communities."

A campaign is launching today to educate residents on what goes in each bin and how to book waste collections (LDRS).

Now the authority is focusing its efforts on working with residents to keep communities clean, while still taking a zero-tolerance enforcement approach to dumped waste.

A campaign is launching today (Tuesday) to educate residents on what waste goes in what bin, how to book waste collections and how to access the two household recycling centres in the city.

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