STAFF at a social enterprise in Dorchester have been praised for tackling litter at a renowned junction in the town.

The Dorchester Stop the Drop Campaign, which has been waging war on litter in the county town, says anyone who has walked or driven along Weymouth Avenue knows the narrow path and dangerous crossing at Maumbury Road.

The campaigners say that the narrow, sloping pavement has been made more difficult for those walking into town by brambles growing through the iron railings above the railway as well as litter in the area.

The area has become particularly difficult for parents with pushchairs, young people walking to school and elderly people with walking aids.

Now a firm whose office is close to the junction has stepped in to make the area that little bit easier to negotiate.

Exchange Supplies was set up in 2001 and is a world leading developer and supplier of drug injecting equipment designed to reduce the spread of HIV and hepatitis amongst injecting drug users.

Its products are sold around the world via its website exchangesupplies.org Founder and local resident Andrew Preston said: "I walk past that junction every day on my way to work, and we can see the problems for pedestrians having to manoeuvre past the brambles leaves and litter from our offices.

"We sell medical devices, which means we have to keep our buildings and surroundings clean and tidy, so we decided to adopt this section of pavement, and make it part of the area we are proud to look after."

After deciding to do something about it, three members of the Exchange Supplies warehouse team - Fern Jelleyman, Josef Griffiths, and Scott Robyns - set about cleaning the entire corner.

They took three days to cut, litter-pick, pack up, and remove all of the rubbish, brambles, ivy, and weeds to ensure the area would no longer interfere with pedestrians.

Fern, who recently moved back to the area from London, said: "Litter is terrible and there is no need for it.

"In London, there are bins everywhere, but they are often difficult to find in Dorchester."

She added that there should be more communal litter picks by local businesses and schools to increase awareness, and reduce litter.

In recognition of the team's efforts, treasurer of the Dorchester Stop the Drop campaign Felicity McLaren presented Fern with a new litter picker and a specially designed hoop to hold the rubbish bag open when doing a litter pick to help with the future clean up efforts.