VIDEO: Thorpe Hesley litter pick organisers stunned by 100-strong turnout

The Love Where You Live community clean-up in Thorpe Hesley on Sunday boasted a team of more than 100 helpers.

They filed dozens of black bags with rubbish and collected a range of fly-tipped or discarded items, including plastic sheets, storage boxes, packaging and even a sledge.

Love Where You Live is a borough-wide drive to co-ordinate community efforts to improve the environment and encourage reports of littering and fly-tipping.

It runs parallel to Rotherham Borough Council’s contract with private firm Kingdom to increase fines and prosecutions for “enviro-crime”.

Wayne Munro-Smith, from the council, said he was aware of clean-ups taking place regularly around Rotherham, including one by volunteers from substance recovery centre Carnson House on Sunday and another by a team from Wath, West Melton and Brampton on Saturday.

“There are established groups and new groups springing up but not everyone is aware of it yet,” he said.

“We also want to let people know they don’t always have to do their own picks if they let us know where the problems are.”

Litter picks are planned over the coming days at the following locations: Parkgate (Friday), Eastwood (Saturday), Firbeck (Sunday) and Swinton (Tuesday), with each starting at 10am.

Picking equipment will be provide and rubbish bags collected by the council afterwards.

Visit the council's litter picking website for details of where to meet.