The City of London has participated in a social experiment proposed by Which Side of The Fence?, in partnership with Keep Britain Tidy.  To show the scale of our £1 billion rubbish problem, the Council gave an army of London cleaners who’d normally comb the streets picking litter, the night off. 

The results were appalling.  27 hours in beer bottles, takeaway coffee cups, fast-food wrappers, cigarette packets, paper, plastic bags and all sorts of other debris covered the streets. 

To demonstrate exactly how much mess London’s cleaners have to clear each day – one side of the street was abandoned, the other cleaned.  This contrast gave a stark and powerful picture of the real state of Britain’s streets.