Keep Britain Tidy‘s 12th annual Local Environmental Quality Survey of England shows that more places are now of an acceptable standard when it comes to cleanliness – which they say shows local councils have adapted and succeeded in doing more with less funding.

Keep Britain Tidy’s ‘Open All Hours’ fast food litter poster campaign

Produced on behalf of Defra and covering 10,682 sites in 54 local authority areas,  it was found that despite the overall improvement, litter from confectionery and fast food has increased, affecting 3% more sites than in the previous survey. Keep Britain Tidy chief executive Phil Barton said: “The continued growth in fast food and confectionery-related litter means that there is still a huge amount to do to educate the public that they have a responsibility to do the right thing.

“When you buy a burger or a chocolate bar, you buy the wrapper as well as the contents and it is your responsibility to dispose of it properly.”

Keep Britain Tidy has formed several partnerships with local authorities, media companies and outlets such as McDonald’s to reduce litter at sites where food is bought, aiming to move towards changing the culture of littering convenient fast and snack food packaging. According to a 2006 study, 48% of the population admitted to dropping litter.