Intrepid litter pickers collected 30 bags of rubbish from roads, footpaths and verges around Chobham.

They were taking part in the village’s contribution to the annual Great British Spring Clean, the country’s biggest community environmental campaign.

The bags were filled in just two hours, and most of the contents were items that can be recycled such as beer and soft drink cans and bottles. Discarded fast food wrappers and containers were also prominent.

Several large nitrous oxide canisters were collected in Staple Hill Car Park on Chobham Common, where groups of people gather to get high on this so-called “laughing gas”.

Six bags came from the verge and ditch in Castle Grove Road, where a collection of empty miniature whisky and vodka bottles was found, along with two empty mouthwash bottles.

“The volume of rubbish that has been discarded around our lovely village since last year’s litter pick is disgusting and disheartening,” said Len Brum, one of the clean-up organisers.

“Most of what we collected was obviously thrown out of passing vehicles. We sincerely hope that some drivers are not drinking lager, cider and even spirits when they are behind the wheel.

“It’s astonishing that many people are too lazy to take recycling items and rubbish home to put in their bins, but prefer to hurl them onto the side of the road and into ditches.”

The organisers are planning to stage another community litter pick in the autumn, hoping to attract more volunteers and cover a wider area.