Volunteers collected 10,000kg of rubbish over the weekend in the biggest litter-pick in the city’s history.

An estimated 1,700 people took part in the OxClean Spring Clean 2010 on Friday and Saturday, leaving the city the cleanest it has looked for years.

Orgnaisers says the quantities of waste collected by the litter-pickers was the equivalent of rubbish collections to 875 households. And they also managed to collect large quantities of scrap metal and fly-tipped waste.

The number of groups taking part hit the 117 mark, making it the city’s biggest spring clean.

The OxClean Spring Clean 2010 event was run by the Oxford Civic Society in partnership with Oxford City Council and The Oxford Times.

Christine Thompson, of OxClean, said: “We are delighted with the continued support we received from such a large number of community groups across the city.

“Not only are groups turning out year after year but new groups are coming forward too.

“We are also very pleased that such a wide cross-section of the city’s communities is represented in terms of location within the city, age and interest group.

“The city is certainly looking much cleaner and tidier and we hope that people are noticing that a cleaner, tidier Oxford is a better, more pleasant place to be.”

The final total of groups included more than 60 residents’ teams, who all identified litter-strewn areas of the city, and at least 20 schools.

The West Oxford Primary School tackled the Oatlands Recreation Ground off Ferry Hinksey Road, while SS Mary and John Church of England Primary School, in Hertford Street, collected litter in the East Oxford adventure playground, Meadow Lane.

As in previous years, the residents cleaned up parks, residential areas, shopping centres, playing fields, pathways, car parks, green areas, towpaths and riverbanks.

The Oxford Civic Society tackled the rubbish around Littlemore roundabout, while Risinghurst and Sandhills Parish Council organised a litter-pick on the A40 London Road.

Members of sustainable transport charity Sustrans, which has worked to create cycling routes across the county, were among the first to get the great litter-pick moving on Friday.

They focused their energies on collecting litter along cycling routes between Hinksey Park and Thames Street.

Celia Fry, of Sustrans, said: “The really enjoyable thing about OxClean is the sense of community spirit. That’s what people really take away.

“The worst part for us was not the bottles and crisp packets. It actually was the numerous plastic bags filled with dog mess that dog walkers had just thrown in bushes or on the ground in the park. Dozens of them. Absolutely disgusting.”

OxClean was able to buy 400 litter-pickers to provide to volunteers, thanks to a £2,500 grant from the Oxfordshire Community Foundation.

Oxford East MP Andrew Smith, who launched the 2010 OxClean last week at the Oxford Academy in Littlemore, said: “The message is that we are proud of our city and we show our pride by the responsibility we take by doing our bit to keep it clean.”

Tony Joyce, the chairman of the Oxford Civic Society, said: “I hope that everyone remembers that this is not just about having a mass clean-up for the spring. It is about working throughout the year to make certain that the environment remains nice to live in.”