WITH 10 years of experience in the job, there is not a lot Neighbourhood Services team leader Kevin Wright has not seen or had to remove from the streets of Bolton.

"We come across all sorts - dead animals, packs of rats, bags of used syringes. It can take a bit of getting used to. You certainly need a strong stomach," he said.

The council employs more than 70 staff who provide a street cleaning service 365 days-a-year.

Last year, it collected 8,000 tonnes of street waste. Running the service costs £2.5 million a year.

Patrolling the backstreets around St Helens Road, in Bolton town centre, Kevin and his team keep an eye out for flytippers while dealing with the illegally dumped waste that has already been left behind.

Bins overflowing with dirty nappies, a broken down fridge, old mattresses and grubby three piece suites are abandoned in the middle of the street.

And where the flytippers go, the rats are quick to follow.

Kevin said: "The most rats I've ever seen in one place would be about 30. Somebody had flytipped a load of bags full of food and waste.

"When we went to remove them, all these rats came flying out.

"They were running down drains and into people's back gardens.

"Another time one of my colleagues got bitten by a rat as he was removing some rubbish from a shrub. The rat bit him through his glove and he needed a tetanus shot. Another issue is the verbal and physical abuse. Staff regularly have things thrown at them.

"Flytipping is a real problem and it can make people's lives a misery.

"Even though you can go to your local dump and get rid of things for free some people will still dump things in the street."

Spare a thought, he said, for the families who wake up to find they have been blocked into their driveways.

This happened when 300 used tyres were dumped outside their homes.

On a positive note, Kevin and team believe most people are getting the message about recycling and that it is only a minority of people who are letting the side down.

Kevin said: "One of the best things about the job is the satisfaction you get from making a street clean and tidy again.

"At the end of the day we're just trying to make Bolton a cleaner, greener place."

As part of The Bolton News Bin It For Bolton 2007 campaign, we are asking people to report grot spots in their area.