A councillor says volunteer litter pickers are facing “confusion” after being advised by council chiefs where they should patrol and where they can’t.

Councillor Peter Grogan said the South Gare Litter Pickers group had been told to limit their activities to council areas only if they wanted the rubbish they gathered to be disposed of.

Cllr Grogan, who previously joined volunteers carrying out this work, said: “I was surprised to learn that [they] have been given some criteria by officers to follow when it comes to litter picking in our communities.

“They have been told to stick with Redcar and Cleveland Council areas only if they want rubbish to be collected for disposal.

“This causes some confusion, especially with mapping issues.

“[Volunteers] have been told the council will not dispose of the litter waste from private housing estates and social housing areas.”

The Kirkleatham ward councillor said such volunteer groups were “vital to our communities” and areas would be “poorer without them”.

He sought clarification on the council’s position at a recent meeting of the local authority.

Council leader Alec Brown, answering on behalf of Adam Brook, the cabinet member for neighbourhoods, said private landowners were responsible for the clearance and disposal of waste on their own land, which included social housing companies.

He said the council had a long history of working alongside community groups and sometimes supported ‘day of action’ events involving other organisations as part of community safety partnership agreements.

Cllr Brown said this would involve the removal of large items to enable the safe and effective use of skips.

The South Gare Litter Pickers have previously reported finding a myriad of items on their travels, anything from sex toys, jet skis to suspected explosive devices in 2021 – later discovered to be gas cannisters – along with the more mundane, such as beer cans and fast food wrappers.

The council has a volunteer policy in place in an effort to regulate such activities and has sought to encourage volunteers to play a part in the upkeep of the borough.

In 2023/24 it recovered almost 581 tonnes of fly tipped waste through its own efforts with the worst wards for the problem by some distance being South Bank and Coatham.