Last year, Rebecca Pow MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Defra, held a roundtable with large fast-food retailers to understand what action they are taking now to tackle the litter created by their products. It was encouraging to hear about the initiatives they are working on and, more importantly, that they are committed to delivering lasting change by working together to tackle what is an industry wide issue. The Minister was clear, however, that further action was needed.

We believe that businesses should try to reduce the amount of litter their products generate. The Litter Strategy sets out how we intend to work with the relevant industries to tackle certain types of problematic litter, including fast-food packaging.

We do not think it would be cost-effective to require take-away food vendors to implement a vehicle registration number printing and tracing system for packaging. This is due to the additional burden it would place on these businesses and those involved in enforcement. Data protection concerns have also been raised. However, we strongly support voluntary initiatives to reduce littering.

Under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, councils and others have powers to tackle persistent, unreasonable behaviour that is having a negative effect on a community’s quality of life. Councils, the police and designated social housing providers can issue Community Protection Orders and Public Space Protection Orders which can be used to require the owner of a premises, such as fast food outlets, to take certain actions to tackle litter created by their activities. 

In some places, street litter control notices may already be in place to prevent litter. These notices can require the owner of a premises to take action to tackle litter, including taking remedial action up to 100 metres from the premises itself.  

From April 2018, we have given district councils in England (outside London) new powers to hold the keeper of a vehicle responsible for littering offences committed from it.  Councils can issue the keeper with a civil penalty of between £65 and £150 (default £100). A copy of the Regulations can be found online at: 
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2018/171/contents/made

Our recently published Extended Producer Responsibility packaging consultation proposes that producers which make or handle consumer-facing packaging should fund the full net-costs associated with the collection, sorting and treatment of the packaging they place on the market, once it becomes waste. We are also proposing that these fees could cover the costs of consumer information campaigns on recycling packaging waste and litter-related costs. We will continue to engage with producers as these measures progress.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs