Fast-food giants urged to cut litter mountain

Matthew Beard
Wednesday 29 October 2003 01:00 GMT
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An anti-litter group has accused some of Britain's largest fast-food chains of contributing to a 12 per cent rise in litter from takeaways. Keep Britain Tidy says outlets such as Burger King, KFC and Pizza Hut need to do more to reduce litter around their premises and work with the council to keep the area tidy.

A study by the campaign group showed fast-food packaging on the streets has increased by 12 per cent since last year. Fast-food detritus was found on 18 per cent more main roads than last year and on 14 per cent more rural roads. There was also an 11 per cent rise in rubbish found in out-of-town areas.

Alan Woods, chief executive of Keep Britain Tidy, said: "While other litter is disappearing from our streets, fast- food rubbish just keeps on growing. What's more we are finding burger cartons, pizza boxes and plastic cups away from the high street, on our roads and dumped in the countryside. Much of the rubbish has to come from the drive-throughs and it's time they, rather than the British taxpayer, forked out something to clean it up."

The campaign, launched today, is backed by the Environment minister Alun Michael, who has urged the fast-food outlets to provide more bins for customers, and publicise the anti-litter message on their posters.

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