More than 14 tonnes of litter and debris have been recovered during a cleanse along a major route.

A seven-person crew began removing litter from both sides of the road between the Duke of York’s and Whitfield roundabouts and Jubilee Way on the main route to the Port of Dover.

The stretch of almost three miles along the A2 turned up more than 14,000kg of rubbish in just a few days during the operation last week.

This follows work in a separate scheme on Minster Beach, where volunteers have cleared tonnes of rubbish that washes up from a former illegal dumping site.

Last month, 55 volunteers collected 120 rubbish bags weighing 900.5kg in just one day’s work.

The waste included shredded carpet, building waste and even Christmas trees.

Elsewhere, highway bosses have pledged to clean up rubbish on the verges of a major road between Sittingbourne and Maidstone, previously referred to as a “third-world squatter camp.”

The cleanse along the route in Dover costs Dover District Council £275,000 for two litter picks per year and it hopes to gain more funding to continue the project.

A DDC spokesperson said in a statement: “We continue to request that the national government help us with the cost of the twice-yearly high-speed road cleanse.

“We’d also like to continue to remind people to be responsible and not to drop their litter.”

The high-speed road network in Dover is cleaned in the spring and autumn and includes Whitfield Hill, Jubilee Way, A2, A256, A258, A20 and A257.

The current operation is expected to continue along the rest of the network until Tuesday, May 7.