National Highways is urging drivers to stop dumping rubbish after collecting the equivalent weight of 50 cars in roadside litter – a 30% rise on last year.
New figures have revealed the shocking scale of roadside littering, with almost 8,000 bags of rubbish collected from England’s motorways and major A-roads in just two weeks.
The haul – weighing in at around 65 tonnes – was gathered by National Highways teams as part of this year’s Great British Spring Clean, led by charity Keep Britain Tidy. The campaign saw a 30% increase in litter collected compared to the same period in 2024.
National Highways staff even volunteered during lunch breaks to help tackle the problem near offices and depots.
With summer traffic already ramping up, National Highways is calling on drivers to bin their rubbish rather than toss it from vehicles. Last summer, road users clocked up over 339 billion miles on England’s strategic roads between June and September.
Freda Rashdi, Head of Customer Journeys at National Highways, said:
“Clearing litter costs taxpayers millions. Our message is simple – don’t litter. It’s better for drivers, better for wildlife, and better for the environment.”
The RSPCA has received over 10,000 reports of animals found trapped, injured or killed by litter over the past three years – that’s nearly 10 incidents every single day. Some drivers even admitted to discarding biodegradable waste in the belief they were feeding wildlife, a practice that often attracts animals dangerously close to roads.
It’s estimated around three million animals die each year in the UK due to littering – from entanglement to roadside collisions.
National Highways is now asking all road users to take responsibility and help keep the country’s roads clean and safe.