City of York Council is appealing to businesses to help in the fight against litter.

Members of the council's newly created environment and enforcement team are visiting business across the city to give them advice about how to reduce business related waste and tackle litter that may be dropped by their customers.

The initiative is part of a wide campaign to reduce litter in York in a bid to improve the look of the city at street level.

Jackie Armitage, the council's enforcement and environment manager, said: "We now have two dedicated officers who will be helping advise business how to store, recycle and dispose of their refuse properly, as well as giving advice on how to tackle litter that is indirectly cause by their business. Litter from 'food on the go', such as confectionery wrappers and fast food packaging, blights the streets and we need the help of local businesses to make a real difference.

"We want to work with businesses to help them improve the neighbourhoods their serve. There are lots of things that they can do that make a real difference, and it can be as easy as simply sweeping the street outside their property at the end of the day."

The team will also be rewarding those who are already helping, by giving awards to businesses that go the extra mile to reducing waste and improving the environment.

But they will also be getting tough on unscrupulous businesses who collect waste from householders, then dump the waste illegally in York's open spaces.

Jackie said; "Householders have the same duty of care for their waste as businesses and need to ensure that they are giving their waste to properly registered waste collectors. Properly registered waste collectors will have a certificate to prove that they are registered to collect rubbish. If they don't have one, they are not  legitimate and its likely that the rubbish they collect will then be dumped."

Anyone wanting to arrange a bulky waste collection can call the York Pride Action Line on 01904 551551.