Whether you're walking the dog or out for a stroll, you can now do your bit to clean up the community.

A new war on rubbish has been launched in Bridport by the community campaign, Litter Free Dorset.

The initiative was launched when volunteers borrowed litter pickers and gloves and walked down to Asker Meadows hunting for paper, plastic waste, and empty bottles and cans.

Joe Hackett, local organiser for Litter Free Dorset, said: "It was a good start for a system under which people can borrow free of charge pickers individually or in groups at any time.

"I was glad that, as expected, we didn't find a huge amount of waste - only three half bags. but the 15 people who turned up know that there are pockets of litter too and the equipment can be borrowed by outlaying villages as well.

"Two boards outside the Tourist Information Centre and the Waste Not Want Not shop in South Street have pickers to borrow for as little as a few minutes or longer if required. Simply collect what you want and take the equipment back once you've put any rubbish into nearby general waste bins."

Sophie Colley, project officer at the campaign group, thinks that although Bridport is a tidier town than others in the country, "there is a still a lot of work to be done to raise people's consciousness."

John Grantham, who has picked litter for an hour a day for the last four years in Burton Bradstock, thinks the war on rubbish is slowly being won.

He said: "I keep a count of what I find. Before the Blue Planet documentary with David Attenborough, I was finding 3,000 single use plastic bottles every year. Now, that figure is down to 300."

Mr Grantham is particularly keen to tackle the throwing away of cigarette ends, many of which contain plastic and find their way into drains and then out to sea.

For more information about the campaign group, or to find a litter picking group near you, visit www.litterfreedorset.co.uk