Filled nappies, beer cans and dog poo bags are flowing through Canterbury as bins are repeatedly thrown into a river by "feral youths".

Litter-pickers are in a never-ending battle with the mindless yobs and say the "shameful" treatment of the Stour gives the city a bad look.

There are now only a handful of bins still in use along the waterway.

River warden Sian Pettman told KentOnline the "beautiful" Stour is "constantly abused".

"It’s so desperately sad,” the litter-picker said. “It’s a continual battle to keep the river in any sort of decent state at all.

“And as soon as you get bins in the river, then all the rubbish flows out and it is very difficult to get the bins out because they fill up with water and get incredibly heavy.

“The Stour is one of only 200 chalk streams in the world, and it forms part of the world heritage site, so we’ve got a responsibility to maintain it.”

The environmentalist says having all the bins along the Stour properly secured to the ground would prevent “feral youths” from chucking them into the waterway.

But, she explains, a city council project to do this has been left incomplete - and a long-term strategy to deal with littering, fly-tipping and antisocial behaviour is badly needed.

The vandalism is most common along the stretch from the Sainsbury’s at Kingsmead to the Asda Superstore on Sturry Road, where all public bins have now vanished.

Fellow river warden Beverly Paton says she removes rubbish from the banks of the Stour every day while walking her dog

The Canterbury Society member says litter bins being dumped in the river are just the tip of the iceberg.

“We have found everything from toilet bowls and kitchen sinks to computers, televisions, bike, scooters, push chairs, cans of paint, trolleys - you name it, we’ve found it," she said.

“There are various community groups that work to keep the river clean, every week,” said Ms Paton.

“But with the volume of stuff that gets thrown in there it’s just impossible to keep up.

Canterbury City Council head of communications Leo Whitlock says work will take place to better secure the bins.

“We should always condemn outright the yobs that throw litter bins into the river or those too lazy and selfish to keep hold of their waste until they find a suitable bin - it really is not that difficult," he said.

“Having said that, we will ensure riverside litter bins are better secured in the future

“We genuinely value our riverside and the volunteers who work so hard alongside our own staff to keep it clean.

"We have been working hard in the background to make sure we tackle problems like these including pulling together a group made up of organisations interested in the riverside, council officers and neighbouring businesses.

“We are about to share our refreshed and revitalised draft Riverside Strategy for comment, have created a newly-surfaced and widened riverside cycle route and are about to embark on a series of improvements to the riverscape to make sure it stays clean, the river stays healthy and we protect the nature this nurtures.”