Every year in Britain we drop 30 million tonnes of litter. Then we spend one billion pounds a year cleaning it up. It's crazy. And Margaret Mountford is sick of wading through other people's rubbish. So she sets out to discover what it would take to keep our country clean. Along the way she uncovers some surprising and shocking truths about litterers and their anti-social behaviour. Today, she stages an experiment to make train passengers stop dropping litter - by making the carriage smell of lemons. Sounds bonkers, but Dutch psychologists say it works, so Margaret tries it out on the Birmingham to Lichfield line. The results are surprising. A mind-boggling 24 tonnes of litter is dropped on Brighton Beach every summer weekend. The true story of one of our most iconic beaches is revealed by the cleaning teams who start at 5 am when the clubbers head home and face not only broken glass, needles, burning coals and human excreta, but violent abuse from the litterers themselves. It's a miracle that the beach is ever clean and safe enough for sunbathers. There are concerns about the plastic litter found in both the sea and the fish that live in it. Plymouth University's Prof Richard Thompson is researching micro plastic, tiny fragments produced when plastic litter is broken up by the waves. Thompson examines fish from a Devon market to discover how much plastic lurks in the fish we eat. In Edinburgh, wardens Brenda and Alex catch people who dump the entire contents of apartments on the streets. And, also in the Scottish capital, there's a group of volunteers who pick up other people's litter.
Every summer weekend, London's Leicester Square becomes the front line in the war against litter. Tonight street sweeper Donovan reveals how he suffers verbal abuse and even violence from drunk clubbers as he attempts to clear their ankle deep litter. And the team has to call in an expert, John the Flusher, to spray disinfectant in an alley regularly used as a public toilet. In an attempt to find out why we drop litter in some places, but not in others, Margaret Mountford stages a fascinating psychological experiment. The target is cyclists, who will have to dispose of leaflets the team has attached to their bikes. But will more of them drop leaflets in the area that has been deliberately littered, proving that people become litter louts if they think everyone else is doing the same? And the uplifting story of canoeists reversing the tide of litter on Leicester's River Soar. The waterborne volunteer litter pickers gather 30 bags of rubbish from the water every month.
Fly-tippers often work in the dead of night dumping rubbish on other people's land, where it is expensive to move and can even be life-threatening. An emergency team is called out of Birmingham New Street station to clear a giant fly-tip which is about to fall onto the track. We've all heard of leaves on the line, even a single crisp packet discarded by a careless passenger can stop a set of railway points working, causing track closures and delay. In Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, an environment officer sets off on the trail of serious fly-tippers. He's got some evidence and wants to track them down - but will he find the criminals and bring them to book? Meanwhile Adrian Ablett has started a one-man campaign to rid Leicester of littered drinks cans. He cycles round picking them up from the street and hands them in to be recycled. He started with a bin, progressed to a bike, and now has an electric tricycle funded by supporters. He has collected more than 142,000 cans. Hay-on-Wye in Wales is the location for a psychological experiment to get litterers to use litter bins. Like town centres up and down the country, Hay had litter on the ground around perfectly good bins but the mayor of Hay thinks enforcement won't work in this bookish town. So psychologist Ceri Davies is conducting a trial: would bright green footprints painted on the ground 'nudge' residents and visitors to do the right thing and bin their litter?
Dog mess is the litter we find most offensive. In Portsmouth, as part of a nationwide experiment, they have been putting up big glow-in-the-dark posters of staring eyes. It's hoped that making dog owners feel watched will encourage them to pick up their dog mess. The exclusive national results of the experiment, run by Keep Britain Tidy, are revealed on this programme. Margaret Mountford also meets Nadine Nash, who lost an eye to toxocariasis, a disease transmitted by contact with dog faeces. London's annual Pride march leaves more litter than any other event in the capital, after the Notting Hill Carnival. It's a big street party and, in one day, the crowd drops 30 tonnes of litter. We are with the clean-up team following the parade and they have to work against the clock to clean the streets before they are opened to traffic. Neptune's Army is a band of underwater litter pickers in Devon. Shots of them in action reveal the shocking state of the underwater environment, which is used as a dumping ground by litterers hoping the waves will hide evidence of their litter crimes. And in Croydon, the wardens who track and fine members of the public £75 for dropping a single cigarette end.
We are out on patrol with an enforcement officer catching people who drop fast-food packaging, one of the biggest sources of litter in Britain. Restaurants are now reporting their own customers to the authorities when they see them drop litter, noting down car number plates and handing the details to enforcement officers. In Essex, three fast-food giants have joined forces with local councils to catch and fine customers who drop their packaging. It's all part of the phenomenon of 'branded litter'. The chains are aware that their logos appearing on litter is damaging to their brand and so are prepared to turn in the customers who dump their packaging. One strange new way to combat dogs' mess is to spray it bright pink. In Havant, Hampshire, park rangers patrol the green spaces armed with pink spray. It makes it easier to spot fresh deposits and fine irresponsible owners - as the owner of a Springer Spaniel discovers to his cost. Litter dropped on motorway verges is a unique problem because it's dangerous to clear up. Lanes have to be closed at vast expense and causing delays. The Highways Agency reveals what they call the 'black side' of litter: bottles of human urine and piles of excrement left for their litter picking teams to clean up. We discard litter because it's worthless. But what if it had a value? In Rayleigh, Essex they transform their litter bins into charity boxes to find out if people are more likely to use the bins, if every time they fill up, money is donated to charity.