Christmas celebrations are well underway across the district - and an army of street cleaners and refuse collectors are gearing up for one of the busiest times of the year.

Round-the-clock shopping sprees and late-night partying means Bradford's streets are at their filthiest in the run-up to Christmas.

Damian Fisher, principal waste management officer for Bradford Council's street cleansing, said: "Late-night shopping causes us operational problems because we cannot get in to clean the city centre until much later at night.

"It also means bins get fuller because there are more people out there for longer and there is more litter on the floor, especially from nightclub fliers.

"We have to increase our resources at this time of year to keep the district clean."

And as people enjoy the festive period with more food, drink and presents, the amount of household waste produced over the Christmas period is expected to double. Mr Fisher said: "We usually collect about 40 per cent more refuse over the Christmas fortnight. Last year we collected an extra 1,800 tonnes of waste as a result of Christmas in Bradford. There are some changes to refuse collection days and we would ask everyone to note the alterations and make sure they don't end up with overflowing bins."

Mr Fisher added: "We would like people to try to minimise the amount of waste they produce by recycling."

His message reinforces the Telegraph & Argus Bin It for Bradford campaign which was launched to encourage communities to take pride in their areas and to help the environment by reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill sites.

Bradford Council's director of environmental protection and waste management, Richard Wixey, said: "I'd like to see the district have a green Christmas this year. It can be as simple as not buying things with unnecessary packaging or recycling old wrapping paper and cardboard."

l Refuse collections across the district are to alter over Christmas and New Year and householders are being urged to note the following changes:

Collections on Tuesday, December 23, and Wednesday, December 24, will remain the same. Bins due to be emptied on Thursday, December 25 will be collected on Saturday, December 27, and those due for collection on Friday December 26 will be taken on Monday December 29 instead.

Refuse collections will remain the same on December 30 and 31 but bins due to be emptied on Thursday, January 1, will be taken on Saturday, January 3, instead. Bins due for collection on Friday, January 2, remain unaffected. All refuse collections will return to normal from week commencing January 5.