Number plates could be printed on McDonald's customers' wrappers to stop littering

Number plates could be printed on McDonald's wrappers to stop customers from littering.

Council chiefs in Wales are hoping the proposed initiative could make fast food customers take accountability for their rubbish.

Chris Howell - Swansea Council's head of waste, parks and cleansing - said he felt it was a 'good idea', but admitted there were a few question marks about how exactly it would work.

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According to WalesOnline, he told a climate change corporate delivery committee meeting: "The Welsh Government has explored with McDonald's, or their franchises, whether or not they could print number plates of cars collecting takeaways from their drive throughs with a view that that would discourage people from discarding their materials (litter)."

He added it was unclear which fast food company would 'go first' and the impact this would have.

He continued: "If McDonald's do it, then people will just go to Burger King instead of McDonald's, because nobody wants to have their private details printed on that packaging.

"I think it's a really good idea but at the minute it's fraught with some difficulties."

Keep Britain Tidy estimates that two million pieces of rubbish are dropped across the UK every day, proving that a lot of people really aren't bothered about keeping Britain tidy at all.

McDonald's said it is 'open' to the number plates proposal; however, the fast food giant is not convinced the idea would be possible or effective in its current form.

Francis Joseph Dean/Dean Pictures / Alamy Stock Photo

A McDonald's spokesperson told LADbible: "Encouraging our customers to dispose of our packaging responsibly is something we take seriously at McDonald's and we have looked into this proposal a number of times over the years.

"Unfortunately, we are not able to process our customers' data in this way. Additionally, we have concerns around the effectiveness of printing registration plate numbers on our packaging or receipts, and are not convinced that it would provide strong enough evidence to support local authorities in prosecuting litter offences.

"We remain open to the proposal in principle and continue to keep its feasibility under review.

"Meanwhile, we continue to reward customers for binning their litter through our partnership with LitterLotto as well as supporting a number of anti-litter campaigns and initiatives with Keep Britain Tidy, Keep Wales Tidy and environmental charity Hubbub."