Litter league - Blackspots need to clean up their act

The country has made a distinct advance in cleaning up over the past decade. Litter levels in the 57 larger urban areas has decreased by 30% in 10 years.

The process began rather slowly, with comparatively little advance over the first seven years, compared with a five-fold improvement in the past three years, during which litter levels fell by 25%.

The improvement was attributed mainly to the introduction of the league table ranking the different areas three years ago.