DRIVERS are being urged to take their rubbish home and not to litter on motorways as it could be putting lives at risk.

Highways England is urging people to think before they throw waste on to the region's roads.

More than 40,000 sacks of litter were collected from motorways in the North West last year, including the M61and the M60, an average of 108 sacks for every mile of motorway.

Backing the campaign is 46-year-old Paul Cooper, from Bolton, who has been collecting rubbish from the area’s motorways for 19 years, as part of his job as a maintenance worker with Balfour Beatty Mott Mcdonald.

BBMM is the company responsible for maintaining the region’s motorways and runs a depot in Westhoughton.

Mr Cooper, whose other duties include filling potholes, repairing safety barriers and clearing drains, said: “I think most drivers who sling litter out their windows don’t really think about what they’re doing, and that someone like me has to come along and clear up after them.

“It tends to be worst on slip roads or where there’s standing traffic, as that’s when drivers seem to decide to have a clear out of their cars.

“There’s always an element of risk when you’re working on the network as you’re near traffic so my message to drivers is please stop dropping litter and take it home with you instead.”

New signs are being trialled on motorways with the message ‘workers lives are put at risk picking up your litter’ and extra patrols are being carried out to target the problem.

Drivers are being urged to keep their rubbish with them rather than leaving it at the roadside, risking the lives of the workers who have to collect it.

It costs an estimated £40 for each sack of litter collected from motorways, around the same as filling in one pothole.

It also can be a danger to other drivers if it lands on windscreens, causes a threat to wildlife and leads to flooding when drains become blocked.

This means that litter picking has to be regularly carried out across the area’s motorways.

New measures being consulted on by the government mean that drivers could be fined if litter is thrown from their car, even if it is discarded by someone else.

Drivers are being urged to keep their rubbish with them rather than leaving it at the roadside, risking the lives of the workers who have to collect it.