Hundreds of bottles and cans are dumped in the River Crane every year according to a community action group.

Friends of River Crane Environment (FORCE) regularly clean in and around the river, which is a tributary to the Thames and flows through St Margarets.

They are now taking a stand and asking people to be more responsible.

Rob Gray from FORCE said: “People just don’t think about the fact they’re flytipping. It’s a case of out of sight, out of mind. Over the last year we’ve pulled around 1,000 cans, 600 plastic bottles and 300 glass bottles from the River.

“It doesn’t take much for a little gust of wind to blow something into the river and once it’s in the river nothing will stop it going into the Thames and into the North Sea.

“We’ve got a good relationship with the Council so they pick up what we collect within twenty four hours, which is really important otherwise people would use these points as an excuse to flytip even more.”

Cllr Pamela Fleming, cabinet member for environment said: “We are very grateful to the Friends Groups who work tirelessly within our communities to help maintain our beautiful green spaces. By working alongside them we are able to reduce the impact of flytipping on the environment but the level of work they do is a sign that this anti-social behaviour is still a blight on our beautiful borough.

“I would encourage people to think about how they are disposing of their waste particularly when they are using our green spaces so everyone can continue to enjoy them.”

If you see flytipping in Richmond you can report it to the council on customer service team on 020 8891 1411 or via their website.