Twelve tonnes of rubbish were picked up over just seven miles of road.

And almost 5,000kg of litter and fly-tipped trash was cleared in five miles on another route.

These were the shocking revelations in a new report by anti-litter campaigners.

The document confirms the plague of local littering and filth as recently reported on KentOnline, when it was revealed that people had been using Dover beach as a toilet.

The report, called The War on Litter in Dover, said ast month an average of six men, waste clearers from Veolia, took away 12 tonnes of litter, debris and fly-tipped rubbish in eight days.

This was over seven miles on the A20 from the Aycliffe Roundabout at Dover to the Round Hill Tunnels at Folkestone.

Around the same time 4,980kg of waste was cleared over 10 days, by an average of five workers a day, from the verges of the A2.

This was over five miles from the Duke of York's roundabout to the Lydden traffic lights.

Last week report co-author Peter Sherred revealed to the Mercury that he and fellow volunteers spent several hours in one evening clearing dumped builders' bags in Hangman's Lane in Guston.

He drove down that same road within 24 hours to find 17 newly-dumped bags in the exact verge that had been cleared.

Mr Sherred said in the new report that he has been told by people he is on a losing battle

But he explained: "We all have a responsibility as stewards to safeguard the environment of the town we live and and love.

"Thank heaven for the work of of the many volunteers who routinely collect rubbish for without their help we would be in a pretty awful state."

M Sherred, of the Rotary Club of Dover, wrote the report with Adeline Reidy, of the Inner Wheel Club of Dover.

Mr Sherred usually works to keep the Guston area clean but Mrs Reidy focuses on Dover's Castle Road and Castle Hill Road area.

She has reported to Dover District Council that accumulated rubbish on the corner of Dolphin Passage is seeping into the new St James' leisure and retail area.

A settee was removed from Russell Street and waste collecters had to remove large amounts of rubbish from a parking area on Castle Hill Road, caused by a change of flat occupants in the area.

The report praises Dover District Council and Highways England for their efforts to remove rubbish, including from road verges.

In addition young carers connected to the Dover smART Project has been credited for their efforts to gather rubbish from the beach.

The Rotary Club recently gave a top award to John Morgan, 71, who in the first months of this year worked to clear three cemeteries in and around Old Charlton Road.

Last autumn he cleared litter from the Dover St Mary's Primary School playing fields and grounds where litterbugs discarded 24 bottles of vodka.

Also singled out for praise is Ken Read, 83, who usually picks up litter in Dover's Harold Street, Taswell Street and the area surrounding the Dover Castle coach park.