British city government fed up with paying the cleanup cost of free newspapers

Are you listening, Metro, Now and eye? For those who have wondered how the the public cost of litter and cleanup factored into the business case for freebie newspapers, comes word from the MediaGuardian that Westminster Council in London is cracking down on freebies. After looking, in vain, for voluntary compliance, the council has mandated that the publishers of London Lite and the London Paper clean up after themselves. Around 1 million copies of the two papers are distributed every weekday.

The new measures could see the council slash freesheet distribution points in certain central areas of London by 30% and require distributors to collect discarded papers and sweep up within a 100m radius at the end of their shift.

This is after months of negotiations failed to reach a financial agreement acceptable to both News International and Associated Newspapers, the publishing giants who produce the papers. The two companies have been given a month to agree or have an agreement imposed on them.

Westminster had asked both companies to pay it to recycle the papers, then proposed a recycling regime under which the two publishers would have sponsored 150 recycling bins and a vehicle to empty them. But both publishers were not prepared to share the costs equally.

The new measures will force both companies to apply for permits to distribute in Westminster council's environs, which include the West End.

Westminster says its annual cleanup bill for freesheets is £111,000 and up to 25% of its waste in the West End comes from free newspapers, which mix with other waste and cannot be recycled.