Caerphilly Town Council has written to more than 30 takeaways and fast food outlets, urging them to play their part in reducing the amount of litter in Caerphilly town.
The letter was sent with shops having reopened in June as coronavirus lockdown measures are gradually eased.
Caerphilly Town Mayor, Cllr Mike Prew, said: “When the lockdown started, what struck many people was the reduction in litter blowing about our streets.
“However as more as more fast food outlets have restarted their business, its become noticeable that large quantities of rubbish has returned to our town.
“I have had many complaints from residents, but it must be remembered it is people who drop litter rather than put it in a bin or take it home to dispose of.
“We have written to outlets in Caerphilly to try to tackle the problem at the source of this rubbish.”
Town councillor James Fussell, who also serves as a county borough councillor, said: “We met with county officers last week to discuss ways to reopen the town centre in a safe and responsible way while the virus is still with us.
“In the meantime, we are looking to these food outlets to co-operate with our efforts. We would love to hear from them about how they are encouraging their customers to dispose of litter responsibly.
“We would also love to know what their plans are for introducing recyclable, plastic free packaging. We therefore look forward to their responses to our letter and their efforts to help keep the community they profit from tidy.”
Cllr Jamie Pritchard said: “Retailers have a part to play in reducing litter, but I urged town councillors that we should be directing our fire more on the individuals responsible for ruining the environment with needless littering.
“It’s easy to just blame a corporate giant for the problem, but individuals exercise personal responsibility. It’s important we don’t lose sight of who is more to blame.”
In June, Caerphilly Observer reported that the McDonald’s and KFC franchises in Gallagher Retail Park, Caerphilly, had agreed to tackle litter coming from their restaurants, following a meeting with county borough councillor Shayne Cook.
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Yep, writing to them should sort the problem out. How about imposing extra taxes on these establishments that is collected by the local council to help clean up after the role citizens who are too oblivious to put the rubbish in the bin.