Local authorities and fast food businesses from Essex, Suffolk and Kent have joined together to fight litter and attempt to reform littering offenders in the region.

From this Monday (24 August) until the end of September, councils, businesses, volunteers, schools and community groups will be encouraging litterers to change their behaviour.

One initiative implemented as part of the scheme, will see posters and fast food packaging carry messages to different target audiences to show that binning litter is easy and effective.

The new scheme follows on from last year’s ‘Littering… it’s not pretty’ Love Essex campaign, which was carried out across Essex by the Cleaner Essex Group, a partnership of all 14 local authorities and Essex County Council.

According to an impact study by anti-litter charity Keep Britain Tidy (KBT), the campaign resulted in a 21 per cent overall decrease of litter across the county, with a 41 per cent drop in fast food litter. It was subsequently awarded the 2015 Diamond Jubilee Partnership Award, presented by KBT.

The partnership has now extended to neighbouring counties, and activities will be carried out under the banners of Love Essex, Love Suffolk and Love Kent.

Over 300 local businesses across the three counties have pledged to join in with the partnership’s work, and brands including Britvic, Coca-Cola, Costa Coffee, Domino’s, Highways England, KBT, KFC, McDonald’s, Tesco and Wrigley’s have also joined the scheme.

Cuts to local authority budgets, the partnership says, have put greater demand and pressure on services such as street cleaning, and as the trend in eating-on-the-go continues to grow, so does the battle against litter.

Cleaner Essex Group is determined to tackle this problem and says that the joined-up approach displayed in the partnership has been ‘tried, tested and, most crucially, has brought results’.

Councils and businesses joining to combat litter

Councillor Chris Hossack, Chair of the Environment & Housing Management Committee at Brentwood Borough Council, one of the participating Essex local authorities, said: “Keeping Essex clean and tidy costs £17million a year and Essex residents are paying for it.

“There will always be a cost to street cleansing and to empty litter bins, but money could be saved if everyone did the right thing with their litter. That saved money could then be spent on other things that are important to our residents.”

“In the Brentwood Borough alone, £480,000 of taxpayers’ money is spent on keeping our area clean and tidy and that includes the cost of clearing up fly-tips. This is too high a price for the majority to pay when it’s the minority who spoil it. Binning your litter is a pretty quick thing to do and makes our local environment a better place for everyone.”

Speaking of the campaign, Allison Ogden-Newton, recently appointed Chief Executive of KBT, said: “It is fantastic to see the Love Essex campaign going from strength to strength and the model being adopted by other counties.

“Campaigns like this, which see local authorities, charities, businesses and communities working together, are the best way to tackle the problem of litter that blights our streets, parks and beaches.”

Learn more about the 2014 Love Essex campaign.