Top of the drops! Keep Britain Tidy lists the most-dumped brands

Litter louts are most likely to dump Coca-Cola cans, Cadbury wrappers and Walkers crisp packets, a survey has revealed.

The branded packaging was found strewn across parks, beaches and river or canal banks during a national litter-picking exercise.

Volunteers scooped up more than 37,000 pieces of rubbish in the latest Keep Britain Tidy campaign - more than 10 times the quantity picked up in previous years, according to the charity.

The brands most frequently dumped were Coca-Cola and Cadbury. They were followed by Walkers, McDonald's, Mars and Red Bull, according to the findings.

Phil Barton, chief executive at Keep Britain Tidy, said: "These results should be a wake-up call that we all need to do more to love where we live.

"Litter is not just an environmental problem. It affects perceptions of safety and costs Government nearly £1 billion a year to clean up."

He added: "This survey provides us with a snapshot of what people have littered in communities across the country.

"It also gives 37,000 reasons why we all need to do more to make littering socially unacceptable - to reduce the environmental, social and financial costs of this national problem."

But he said more needed to be done to eradicate littering habits and warned the problem could get worse.

"As Government cuts put pressure on local authority services and impact on their efforts to get litterers to dispose of things correctly, England could see more litter in more places," he said.

"That can't happen. It's time for more responsible companies to help more people love more places, by joining efforts to convince their consumers to do the right thing."

More than 500 volunteers enlisted for this year's litter count, which was previously carried out by Keep Britain Tidy staff.

PA

The brands dumped most frequently were:

1. Coca-Cola

2. Cadbury

3. Walkers

4. McDonald's

5. Mars

6. Red Bull

7. Imperial Tobacco

8. Nestle

9. Foster's

10. Pepsi