VOLUNTEERS with a community improvement group in Newport have recorded another successful year, clearing up 225 tonnes of litter and fly-tipped rubbish.

The members of Pride in Pill have now picked up a massive 1,472 tonnes of waste since the group was formed in 2014 to tackle litter in the Pillgwenlly area of the city.

The group cleaned up 165 tonnes of rubbish in 2018.

Pride in Pill chairman Paul Murphy said the group's reputation had grown substantially from small beginnings, and was now receiving calls from residents in other parts of the city who needed help with troublesome litter hot-spots.

"If people ask us to do a clean-up event, we're on board and will give them a hand," Mr Murphy said.

Pride in Pill was awarded an MBE for its community work, and the group's operations have expanded to helping out other good causes in the Newport area.

For Christmas, the group donated toys to the children's ward at the Royal Gwent Hospital, and over the course of 2019 its volunteers supported 60 events for the city's homeless.

Mr Murphy and his colleagues also spend four hours every Sunday visiting homeless people in Newport, providing them with a meal and a hot drink.

Pride in Pill's actions have not gone unnoticed, Mr Murphy said.

"Everybody enjoys it and says it's a good group," he said. "And a lot of people are more respectful now, using bins instead of littering."

He added: "If we hadn't started in 2014, what would it be like?"

The annual tonnage of waste collected in Pill by the group has never reached the first year's total, of 275 tonnes - something Mr Murphy said showed the situation was improving.

But other areas, such as around George Street Bridge, were still causing problems, he added. There the group had to deal with bigger fly-tipped items, as well as litter.

"People fly-tip because they know they can get away with it," Mr Murphy said. "If it's a mess, I say clean it up."