Cleaners remove 530 tonnes of rubbish from buses a year

A BUS operator has revealed that 84 pieces of chewing gum are cleaned off its fleet’s seating every day at the Runcorn depot.

Arriva published the figure along with other data showing the scale of littering on its vehicles.

The firm said its staff picked up 530 tonnes of rubbish from its buses in 2017, with chocolate wrappers, bus tickets, drink containers and fast food packaging being the most common items.

An Arriva spokeswoman said glass, metals and other suitable waste is recycled.

She said the chewing gum in Runcorn is found on 42 buses – working out at about two pieces per vehicle.

The company said that each bus is cleaned for at least 20 minutes daily, equating to more than 1,500 hours every week in the North West.

Each wash uses between 65 and 100 litres of water each night, with 70% of the water recycled after use.

The firm’s buses are re-painted by hand every five years and take seven days to paint inside and out, totalling 52 hours for each one.

The spokeswoman said passengers voted cleanliness and hygiene as their top priority in the Bus Passenger Survey 2017.

Arriva published the figures to mark the Great British Spring Clean organised by Keep Britain Tidy.

Lisa Pearson, the firm’s head of marketing, said: “We take pride in ensuring that our buses look and feel clean for our passengers, as we know it’s a large part of what makes travelling by bus enjoyable.

“We hope that by showing them just how much TLC we put into caring for our buses, will encourage people to think before they litter this National Spring Cleaning Week.

“In addition to this, we hope that our fleet of green technology buses will help contribute to making Britain clean.”