Most of the curtains are still closed in Pyle Hill Crescent, Totterdown, when eight men dressed in orange jackets make their way down an alley between two of the Victorian properties.

It is Sunday morning, and many people are having a lie-in. But in the back lane that lies beyond the gloom of the alley, it is anything but a day of rest.

Abandoned bikes, dumped builders' rubble, and overgrown shrubs are all being lifted up and taken out to a truck that has been parked near the alley entrance.

The morning air is chilly, but beads of sweat are showing on the faces of some of the men in orange jackets as they emerge with their haul. And despite the physical effort – and the early hour of the day – most of them are smiling.

This is the so-called called 'chain gang of the 21st century' in action.

The Government's decision to make offenders wear branded orange jackets when doing Community Payback, as part of its 'Justice Seen, Justice Done' initiative, was criticised when it was launched recently for stigmatising the wearers.

However, here in the Totterdown area of Bristol there seems to be no hostility to the men in fluorescent orange waistcoats going backwards and forwards along the alleyway.

"The lads up the top of the lane say there's a lady up there who has offered them cups of tea," says Chris Cockram, 21, who is clearing undergrowth from the path near the alley entrance.

Richard Ward, the Community Payback placement manager who is in charge of the team, says the response is typical of that which he has experienced since the orange jackets were introduced. "I think the jackets have made a difference to how people perceive the teams. Until they were introduced, people could think the guys were volunteers or local residents doing a clean-up.

"But now people can see that these are people who have made mistakes and got into trouble, and are accepting their punishment.

"Since the lads started wearing the jackets, I've had lots of people walking up to them saying 'well done' or asking them if they want some squash.

"And it's not just positive comments from the community. I've been getting positive comments from the guys. They know they're being judged on the work they're doing – not on what they've done to get here."

The Community Payback team is clearing a back lane in Totterdown that is regularly fly-tipped. Local councillor Mark Bailey arranged for the work to be carried out, in response to concerns raised by residents.

Under the 'Justice Seen, Justice Done' initiative, Bristolians were recently invited to chose which of five sites they would like a Community Payback team to start work on first, and were also invited to suggest other sites on which work could be carried out.

Mr Bailey, the Liberal Democrat councillor for Windmill Hill, is full of praise for the team as he emerges from the alleyway. "I'm very impressed with them. They didn't know who I was when I went past, and they were really getting stuck in.

"Community Payback is working well here. A lot of these houses are owned by private landlords or different housing associations. Before this, I couldn't interest the council in spending taxpayers' money on clearing up private land, so it was hard to get anything done."

Mr Ward explains: "The problem isn't necessarily that a lot of the properties here are tenanted. It's more that when tenants move out, builders come in and they're not too fussy about where they put their rubbish."

The amount of fly-tipped waste in the back lane is such that the van the team is loading, which takes about a ton of waste, is already nearly full after an hour.

"Once it's filled up, we'll take it to the tip at Avonmouth, and then bring it back and fill it up again," says Mr Ward.

The work to clear the back lane is expected to take place over a number of Sundays during May. Once the work has been done, alley gates will be installed at each end to prevent further fly tipping.

All the men working in the team were facing custody, but were instead given a community order by magistrates or a judge. There are 12 elements to the order, and one of the elements that can be awarded is unpaid work in the community.

"They can get anything from 40 hours for minor offences up to 300 hours for more serious offences," says Mr Ward.

"They have to do the work at weekends, so you get to see them over quite a period of time. During that time, you can see some of them change.

"A lot of people are unsure of what to expect on Community Payback. If you've made a mistake and you're not used to the criminal justice system, the whole process can be disconcerting.

"But ultimately the experience is a positive one for the vast majority. One guy is here on his last day and has brought cakes and biscuits. A lot of them do that."

Understandably, there is a reluctance among members of the Community Payback team to discuss their experiences.

Only Chris Cockram is willing to talk. Rolling a cigarette, he observes: "One of the good things is that at the end of the day you can see you've done something."

Chris, from Brislington, was sentenced to 150 hours' Community Payback for theft and burglary. He will have to work at weekends every fortnight until next year before he has completed his sentence.

"I was all right at school, but I got into the wrong crowd and things spiralled down," he says.

"It was this or prison, and I'm glad it was this. Prison would have changed my life. It could have been for the better, or it could have ended up being for the worst.

"As part of my order I'm also doing Learn Direct Courses in English and Maths. You've got to have level one or two in those subjects to get a construction skills certification scheme card, which I need because I want to work in the construction industry.

"The good thing about this is that I'm not just getting punished, but it's helping me to sort myself out. My dad said it seems strange I had to do something wrong to get all this support."