Anti-litter campaign and poster competition launched by Borough Council

All the individual councils (HBBC, Charnwood Borough Council, Harborough District Council, Melton Borough Council, Blaby District Council, North West Leicestershire District Council) face many challenges cleansing their individual boroughs or districts. Sweet and crisp wrappers, cigarettes, plastic bottles, and cigarette butts and discarded chewing gum which is also classed as litter are the most common items, all of which can be easily put in a bin or taken home.

A key aim of the campaign is to highlight to residents how they can report litter offenders which can incur a £400 fine.

Dropping litter, including from any vehicle, is an offence. A fine (fixed penalty notice or FPN) can be issued to the person dropping the litter. The fine will be issued by the individual council's Clean Neighbourhoods Team.

To report dropped litter, anyone can complete a reporting form here

To support the campaign, the Borough Council has launched an anti-littering poster design competition for children aged between 4 – 7 and 7 – 11.

The competition aims to inspire children to take a stand against littering in a creative way.  The poster must contain the key message of encouraging people to bin their litter or take it home, whether they’re out on foot or in a vehicle.

Send your design, along with your name, age and name of school to streetscene@hinckley-bosworth.gov.uk or post to *Clean Neighbourhoods, Jubilee Building, Unit B, Fleming Road, Hinckley, LE10 3DU. *Please be aware that posted entries cannot be returned.

A winning design will be chosen from each category and be used as a sign borough-wide and shared on council social media channels. Closing date is 8 November 2024.

Cllr Lynda Hodgkins, Executive Member for Parks, Open Spaces & Neighbourhood Services at Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council, said: "Litter is a blight on the beautiful landscapes that we are lucky to have across the county and it can also be harmful to our local wildlife and environment. This is an important campaign that aims to teach residents about the consequences of littering, and how they can report such incidents.

“Everybody knows they shouldn’t be littering. We hope that highlighting how easy it is to report littering and the hefty fine that can be issued will help residents and visitors to change their behaviour and take their litter home with them.

“It’s great to see other councils coming together to work on this campaign, and hopefully our collaborative efforts can have a lasting knock-on effect.”