How much does it take to clean a street? City of York Council has been spilling its secrets.

A mechanical sweeper cleaned city-centre footstreets before tipping the debris onto a tarpaulin in Parliament Street to help raise awareness of the cost of cleaning up the mess left each day.

With labour at £108, the vehicle at £49 and disposal at landfill costing £150 per 1.5 tonne load, it all adds up to £379 a day or a staggering £137,956 a year.

Passers-by got the chance to find out about these costs and were given information on Smarter York, the Smarter York App, as well as volunteering opportunities to help towards a cleaner city.

Also showing off its waste-consuming capabilities was one of the solar-powered compactor litter bins being installed across the city in the coming year. With an 800-litre capacity, they give workers time to clean the waste drawers and tidy the area immediately surrounding the bin as well as being able to give more time to emptying the smaller-capacity bins.

In addition, a small mechanical sweeper, a pedestrian-controlled mechanical sweeper and a pavement scrubber washer demonstrated what they could do on the surrounding paving.

Councillor David Levene, cabinet member for Environmental Services said: “We value the support the public gives us by disposing of their litter responsibly. But those who don’t can be in no doubt of the impact of their actions. No-one likes littered streets, and having demonstrated what it looks like in terms of the quantity we collect every day and what it costs the city, we hope this event will encourage more people to avoid littering by disposing their waste responsibly in the city centre, or taking it home.”