Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

According to one recent poll one in three of us admit to throwing rubbish out of our car windows.ΜύΜύ

Clean-up patrols working for the Highways Agency collected 427 sackfuls of litter for every mile of motorway in 2007. The picture on Britain's other roads is no different – just take a look out of your window on your next journey.Μύ

Along the way Nicholas also sawΜύthe results of a successful initiative - Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Suffolk'sΜύ Don't Be a Tosser campaign has been a huge success. One of the nastier finds are so called 'amber bottles' - plastic containers full of urine that have been thrown out of the windows of passing trucks.Μύ

Kevin Hessey is one trucker who is determined to do something about it. He has launched his own campaign to raise awareness of the issue and written a feature for Truck & Driver magazine.

He works for a container movement company based in Felixstowe called Sintex Logistics.

A140 roadside

He can pretty much pick out what lorry drivers do: "They usually bag it before they throw it and they have a nasty habit of urinating in bottles and throwing those out, which is my real bug-bear.

"I can't understand why you would want to do that. I appreciate that there aren't the facilities that we used to have, but you wouldn't want anyone coming round your house, throwing something in your garden or urinating in a bottle."

Accident waiting to happen

Kevin Hessey said there are so many reasons for taking your rubbish home with you:

"It's not good for the countryside and not good for the wildlife. I do get emotional, I do despair at people. Sometimes they are just destroying everything and it does get to me.ΜύI love all the places in this country and there are some beautiful places.

"I see the guys on the side of the road picking-up and I wouldn't want to do that job. It's not pleasant and it's damn well dangerous. You should see the speed some of these vehicles go past these guys.

"Someone's going to end up dead just because we can't be bothered to put our rubbish in the bin."

But the truth is we can't just blame lorry drivers for the state of the rubbish on our roads. It's down to all of us.

In the meantime, while the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ was filming at one service station, the manager told the crew that he picks up the rubbish himself every week – but 2 days later – it is covered again. And that's despite the fact that there are litter bins everywhere.Μύ

The solution is so simple – if we'd all just take our rubbish home or stick it in a bin!ΜύΜύ

For regular updates on the Don't be a Tosser campaign listen to the Mark Murphy breakfast show on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio Suffolk 0630-0930hrs weekdays. For related features, picture galleries and video, use the links on the right.