Litter and litter picking

When people drop their rubbish on the ground this is known as littering. Litter can have a huge impact on our environment, it can:

  • make where we live look messy
  • block up drains causing localised flooding
  • be blown into our local waterways, streams and rivers, where it then travels on out to sea injuring sea life, birds and fishes
  • harm our local wildlife. Animals can cut themselves on discarded glass, get stuck inside metal cans, get entangled or eat plastic
  • start fires. Discarded glass can not only injure people and animals, but can also start fires by the sun's rays.

What is MK City council doing to help?

MK City Council spends over £3.5million per annum keeping MK clean and tidy. All council owned public land should be cleaned on at least an eight weekly basis. Some areas will be visited more frequently, receiving fortnightly or even daily visits - especially around schools, shops and areas of high footfall. Find out more about our responsibilities and cleaning frequencies, as well as our street cleansing standards.

In addition to this:

  • MKCC provides education to our younger residents, providing free in-school talks, videos and on-line resources.
  • MKCC also employs litter wardens to monitor and fine residents caught littering, dog fouling or fly tipping. Litter Wardens can also join with our in-school talks.
  • MKCC provides free litter posters and resources for MKCC staff, Parish and Town councils and interested local residents.
  • MKCC supports our local Parish and Town councils by providing litter pick kits free of charge to loan out to residents (see information below)
  • MKCC will be changing to wheeled bins for collection of rubbish and recycling in 2023, which will help to reduce the amount of litter from torn and discarded recycling and rubbish sacks.

Reporting litter

Report online or by telephone litter, dog fouling or fly tipping.

Litter picking

Litter picking advice

Litter picking is a great way of bringing residents, both young and old, together to help to care for their local environment. Always complete a risk assessment before holding a litter pick.

Borrow litter pick kits

We have litter pick kits held in the community to hire free of charge. These are not held centrally, but in the community making it easier and more convenient to access. 

Check our Litter Pick Holders List to find the one nearest to you.

Collecting filled sacks

Please let us know at least 7 days in advance where possible of the area you are litter picking and where you would like the rubbish sacks to be collected from so we can ensure a crew is available to collect the bags.  You can contact the Waste Team by emailing yourwaste@milton-keynes.gov.uk.  If you only have one or two bags for collection you can put them out in your wheelie bin on your normal collection day and they will be collected as part of your weekly collection.

Don't forget to photograph your event and send images to communications@milton-keynes.gov.uk to share on MK Council social media.

Waste and Recycling team contact information

Milton Keynes Waste Recovery Park (appointment only), 9 Dickens Road, Old Wolverton, Milton Keynes MK12 5QF