The village of Mells just outside Frome now has a welcome stretch of verge totally rubbish free, thanks to the work of three dedicated litter pickers.

It took the trio an hour to collect an impressive three bags of rubbish and four bags of recyclables to leave this stretch at the entrance to the village looking transformed.

Mells resident Vicki Pike and her friends, who posted the before and after photos on the Mells Matters site, have been widely applauded for their dedication carried out on February 21.

Just over the district border into B&NES this week (February 22) marks the beginning of a verge-side blitz on rubbish.

Traffic management will be in place as the teams clean up more than 150 miles of verges at a cost of £18,000 to the council.

Last year crews collected more than 188 bags of unnecessary waste weighing in at 3.5 tonnes, the equivalent of a light goods vehicle.

Councillor David Wood, joint cabinet member for the B&NES Neighbourhood Services and Climate Emergency, said: "The rubbish is completely unnecessary and is only there because of people's carelessness.

"Most of it is fast-food packaging and items thrown from vehicles. Litter is not only an eyesore but damages the environment and wildlife too.

"Our clean-up operation is expensive, time consuming and dangerous for our crews and it's frustrating that this time and money could be better spent on other essential services for residents.

"However, we want to keep our area looking beautiful, which is why we have dedicated funding to carry this out each year. We apologise for any inconvenience caused to drivers during the clean-up."

Litter picking schedule for 2021, subject to change depending on weather conditions:

A37 - February 17 and 18

A39 - February 24 to 26

Woollard Lane and Charlton Road to Keynsham - March 3 and 4

B3130 Chew Magna to A37 Pensford - March 10 and 11

B3355 Hallatrow to A362 - March 16

Queen Charlton Lane - March 18 and 19

Brassknocker Hill - March 24

Claverton Down Road from Brassknocker to Uni - March 26

Lansdown Lane from Lansdown Rd to Beresford Gardens - March 30

A36 Lower Bristol Road Cares Centre to 3 Lamps Junction - April 1

A36 Warminster Road - April 6 and 7