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It's up to all of us to help make Hull cleaner

It's one of the most litter-ridden areas of Hull and it's Steve Antcliffe's job to clean it up.
His patch is known as 'the cross' because the streets it covers form a cross-shape – that's Prospect Street, King Edward Street, Jameson Street and Little Jameson Street.
"You just keep going round and by the time you get back to where you started there's more litter on the ground," says Steve.
"Cigarette ends are the main problem.
It's been especially bad since the smoking ban because more people are smoking outside.
"But Saturday and Sunday mornings are the worst, because of all the take-away wrappers and cartons."

Painting the Forth Bridge

Steve is part of a team of more than 100 people, including street cleaning vehicle drivers and brush litter pickers.
The team works every day of the year, except Christmas Day, in a variety of shifts between 6am to 7pm.
"Keeping the city clean is like painting the Forth Bridge," says Jane Price, interim head of the council's area and neighbourhood management team.
"And it's not something the council can do alone.
We need the support of everyone in the city if we're going to properly clean up the streets and make Hull an even more attractive place to live, work and visit.
"What could be easier than using a rubbish bin instead of throwing litter on the ground?"

Jameson Street in the city centre is one of the most litter-ridden areas of Hull, because of the sheer numbers of people

No excuses

Meanwhile, back at the cross, Steve drives a 'green machine,' which uses brushes and suction power to pick up litter, and can even reach most of the rubbish beneath public benches.
During his three years on the patch, he has built camaraderie with local traders and members of the public.
"You get the odd drunk trying to wind you up, but generally the public are pretty good.
"Not many people will drop litter in front of you, but we still need to educate people more about using bins.
There are plenty about so there are no excuses.
"Maybe we need to go into schools and educate kids more, but a lot of the time it's not the kids – it's the adults!"
Steve and his colleagues are especially busy after major public events such as the Christmas lights switch-on, when the amount of litter is "horrendous."
But there is one annual problem the public can't do anything about – autumn leaves!
It's estimated that more than 70 tonnes are cleared away every year.

Street litter – the facts

It's estimated that more than a million cigarette butts are discarded on the streets of Hull every week. They make up 10 per cent of the litter cleared from Hull streets. In a year, the cigarette butts cleared from Hull's streets laid end to end would stretch round the Earth's equator more than four times. Discarded chewing gum – which is difficult and costly to remove – and packaging from drinks and fast food are also major problems on Hull streets. If you drop litter you could pick up a fixed penalty notice of £75. If unpaid, this could lead to a conviction at Hull Magistrates' Court and a fine of up to £2,500. Every year hundreds of people in Hull are fined for environmental crimes, including dropping litter, fly posting, abandoning vehicles and not cleaning up dog mess.