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Taxpayers are forced to fork out £200,000 a year to clear 80 tonnes of litter that is dropped on the roadside, it has emerged.

Chiltern District Council (CDC) said its waste contractors have to return to some main roads every eight weeks to clean up rubbish that is discarded on the street and is calling for people to throw their rubbish in a bin.

The council has released a video to showing the work involved cleaning up after people who litter on the roads.

Cllr Mike Smith, portfolio holder for waste, said: “Throwing litter out of your vehicle is irresponsible and illegal, but that doesn't seem to stop people from doing it as they drive through the Chiltern district.

“The sheer volume of litter that is thrown from people’s cars is shocking; the waste team collected five tonnes of rubbish from the A413 in just two days and already it’s piling up again.

“Added to this is the risk to wildlife which can get caught in rubbish or even eat it, resulting in injury, poisoning and death.

“We need everyone to take responsibility and stop littering. Littering is completely unacceptable; it plagues our environment, endangers wildlife, and costs a huge amount of time and money to clean up.

“That's why we're releasing this video to show the work it takes to clean up after people, and I hope it will make the people who litter think twice about doing so.

“Keep your litter in your vehicle and dispose of it in a proper bin. It's very simple.

“For every person that does dispose of their litter responsibly, I would like to say thank you.

“I hope that in years to come we no longer have to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds simply putting people's rubbish in the bin for them.”