Street Cleaning

What do Inverclyde Council do?

The street cleaning programme is carried out both mechanically and manually with the frequency varying dependent on the type and usage of land, as defined in the Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse Issued under Section 89 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.  We clean streets, drains, car parks, public toilets and other public areas to remove litter, a build up of leaves or any other items which could be a risk to public health and safety.

The Environmental Protection Act 1990 makes it an offence to litter on public open land, such as roads, pavements, parks and beaches. Inverclyde Council's Environmental and Public Protection Service employ Enforcement Officers who patrol Inverclyde and can issue £80 fixed penalty notices for littering offences.

These fixed penalty notices are issued as an alternative to prosecution; failure to pay a fixed penalty notice will result in a report being sent to the Procurator Fiscal.  Offenders should note that a further offence would be committed if they refuse to provide their name and address to a designated officer for the purpose of issuing a fixed penalty notice.

How to report a street cleaning request or litter complaint

To request Inverclyde Council's street cleaning service, if you have witnessed littering offences being committed, or are experiencing regular difficulties with people littering in your neighbourhood, you can contact the Customer Service Centre using the details available in the Contacts section of this page.

Complaints of littering will be directed to Inverclyde Council's street cleaning service and, if appropriate, transferred to the Environmental Enforcement team to establish if there is sufficient detail for further investigation.  Anonymous littering complaints will be investigated; however, that investigation will be limited.  To allow us to fully investigate your complaint you should, if applicable, provide us with:

  • your name, address and if possible a contact telephone number
  • the address/location of complaint (please be as specific as possible)
  • name and address of person(s) littering
  • dates/times of incident(s)

We may try and contact you to ask for further information or to provide updates on your complaint; however, this is not always necessary as we will not provide any details of enforcement action taken against other individuals.

Alternatively you can use the online reporting form or download the Inverclyde Online app, which allows residents and visitors to request services and report a variety of issues to the Council.  The links to both of these are available on the Related Links section of this page.

Street cleaning programme / service

Litter Removal

  • All major shopping areas will be cleared of litter on a daily basis and throughout the day.
  • Other shopping areas and hot spots i.e. school runs, esplanades, fast food outlets as necessary, cleared of litter on a daily basis – at least once per day.
  • All public streets and other public areas not mentioned above will be cleaned once every 48 working days.
  • Any area reported to have excessive littering, will be responded to within 24 hours

Litter Bins

  • Litterbins within major shopping areas will be emptied several times daily.
  • Litterbins in less busy areas will be emptied at least once a week.
  • Damaged bins will be removed within 24 hours of being reported.

Needles/Syringes

  • Needles/syringes will be removed from all public spaces i.e. streets, parks, open spaces etc. as soon as possible - usually within 2 hours of being reported to us.

Dead animals

Dead animals on trunk roads/verges

  • Dead animals on trunk roads (as listed below) should be reported to Scotland Transerv on 0141 218 3800.
    • A8 from district boundary in Port Glasgow to Bullring Roundabout
    • A78 from Bullring Roundabout to district boundary in Wemyss Bay

Dead animals on public streets/verges

  • Dead animals reported on public streets/verges will normally be removed on the same day or early next day.

Procedure for the disposal of dead dogs/cats

  • Dog or cat with an ID tag/collar
    • we will contact the owner to make arrangements for them to collect it within 48 hours.
    • if the owner chooses not to collect it within 48 hours, we will dispose of the animal.
  • Dog or cat without an ID tag/collar
    • we will scan the animal for an embedded microchip.
    • if the scan is unsuccessful we will dispose of the animal after 48 hours.
    • if the scan is successful we will search national databases for details of the owner.  If this process identifies the animal’s owner, we will contact them to make arrangements for them to collect it within 48 hours.
    • if the owner chooses not to collect it within 48 hours, we will dispose of the animal.

Dead animals on beaches

  • Carcasses washed up on beaches will be uplifted as soon as possible.

Dead animals in gardens

  • If you are a Housing Association tenant you should report dead animals to your Housing Association.
  • If you live in a privately factored property you should report dead animals to your factor.
  • If you rent your property from a private landlord then you should report dead animals to your landlord.
  • Where customers do not have access to a Housing Association, a factor or a landlord, the Council will provide a service whereby large wild animals (deer/foxes/badgers) are removed from gardens on the same day or early next day.
  • Smaller wild animals or birds should be bagged and placed in your black bin.

Leaf/blossom fall (seasonal)

  • Leaf clearing programme.

Winter maintenance (seasonal)

  • Priority footway snow clearance and gritting programme. Follow the link left to view or download the priority footway gritting routes.

Community Clean-ups

  • We can provide support with community clean ups.
    • litter pickers (on a loan basis)
    • bags
    • gloves

For more information visit the Keep Scotland Beautiful or Clean up Scotland websites using the links in the External Links section of this page.

Fixed penalty notices

How to pay

If you have received a fixed penalty notice for littering you can pay using the following methods:

  • Pay online: you can pay online by following the link on this page.
  • By post: you can send a cheque or postal order payable to "Inverclyde Council" to the Inverclyde Council Customer Service Centre (address on this page) together with the Fixed Penalty Notice receipt and reference number.  Please note that you must allow for postage times and that PROOF OF POSTAGE must be obtained.
  • By phone: telephone Inverclyde Council Customer Service Centre on 01475 717171 during office hours with your credit or debit card details and quoting the reference number shown on the front of the Fixed Penalty Notice.

These fixed penalty notices are issued as an alternative to prosecution; failure to pay a fixed penalty notice will result in a report being sent to the Procurator Fiscal.  If you are in doubt about the Notice please contact a solicitor.

Littering enforcement data

Information on littering enforcement for the past 5 financial years is available to download from this page.  Please note this dataset is updated on a quarterly basis and will only be accurate to the date of publication, which is marked on the report.