UP to 1,500 volunteers will be taking to the streets and parks this weekend for the big Oxford spring clean.

Nearly 100 groups and organisations should have registered for the OxClean Spring Clean, which will run from today until Sunday. It is being run by the Oxford Civic Society and Oxford City Council, and backed by The Oxford Times.

Since the beginning of the year we have been urging readers to nominate areas of the city to clean up over the weekend. Schools and colleges, along with youth groups and residents' associations have been volunteering. And the Oxford Civic Society says that it has had requests for 600 litterpickers for this first volunteer effort of its kind, offering everyone a chance to take part in a city-wide clean up.

Help, like the mountains of litter, will be coming in all shapes and sizes over the weekend.

The Rev Willy Pryor, of St Margaret's Church, will bring a team of 'Wombles' who will be meeting up in the car park of the Vines on Banbury Road on Sunday. Falcon Canoe Club plan to litter-pick the Thames using its canoes, while the New Headington Residents' Association has persuaded Starbucks to provide a free coffee for every volunteer.

There is an impressive precedent showing the benefit of a spring clean. In 1989 an initiative was launched in Sydney Harbour. This idea developed into Clean Up Australia Day, with hundreds of thousands taking part.

Harriet Gee, an Oxford researcher into breast cancer, who comes from Australia, will be cleaning an area around the University Parks, with a group of fellow Rhodes Scholars. She said: "It is a really big thing back home. It encourages people to take a pride in their surroundings."

The Oxford Civic Society, after spending weeks trying to turn Oxford into a city of litter pickers, will not be sitting back. The society will be tackling part of the northern bypass, starting at the Marston turn-off today.

Litter around Oxford's ring road has been the cause of most complaints, with the eastern bypass this week branded a "disgrace" by a pensioner who has called for urgent action.

David John, pictured above, said the state of the verges between Heyford Hill and Rose Hill roundabouts needed immediate attention.

Mr John, of Benson, travels along the stretch of road to nearby supermarkets and is baffled why the city council has not cleaned it up. He said: "The sides of the roads are absolutely covered with litter. It looks like a dumping ground. It is an absolute disgrace."

Mr John, a retired community psychiatric nurse, contacted the council to ask why the verges had not been cleaned, but was disappointed with its reply. He said: "They said cleaning the verges would require the road to be closed, which would be disruptive to traffic and would cost too much."

The city council admitted the cost in cleaning up the roadside verges on the eastern bypass had prevented it from taking place on a regular basis.

A council spokesman said: "In order to carry this out safely, a large-scale traffic management operation needs to take place while the work is undertaken. This obviously has quite significant cost implications."

Send us pictures of your litter-pick this weekend and we will put the best of them on our website. Email pictures to oxpix@nqo.com

Click to view pictures.