Bin It

Litter is not on the menu in Carmarthenshire. Fast food outlets including McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut and Starbucks are supporting the county council’s Bin It campaign.

Education and awareness officers will be out and about in Carmarthen, Llanelli and Cross Hands this month encouraging people to dispose of their litter more responsibly.

The fast food outlets have pledged their support to clean up the county and will be working with officers to spread the word.

Posters warning customers to bin their litter will be on display in restaurants and staff will be wearing Bin It t-shirts.

Customers who use the special bins provided could also be in with a chance of winning a prize!

Enforcement officers will also be out and about this month and anyone caught dropping litter could be issued with an on-the-spot fine of £75 or up to £2,500 if prosecuted through the courts.

McDonalds spokesman Ron Mounsey said: “We are delighted to support the council’s campaign to encourage our customers to put their litter in the bin.

“Litter is a blight on our landscape and costs the council hundreds of thousands of pounds to clean up, it’s a waste of money and we support the council’s enforcement action to punish those that break the law.

“Hopefully this campaign will raise even more awareness of the litter problem and encourage people to do the right thing and put their litter in the bin.”

An average of 40 tonnes of litter is removed in Carmarthenshire every week costing the council – and taxpayers - more than £2.1 million a year.

Not only does litter take years to degrade, but it can cause harm to wildlife, spoil the appearance of an area and attract rats.

The council’s executive board member for the environment Councillor Haydn Jones said: “There is no excuse for littering our streets, if there are no bins nearby, then take your rubbish home with you to dispose of. Saying it keeps someone in a job is just an excuse for those who are too lazy or just don’t care about where they live.

“I would like to thank McDonalds and the all the other fast food outlets that have agreed to support this campaign as we cannot tackle this problem on our own. We must work together if we are to improve the environment in Carmarthenshire.”

Photograph: Executive board member for the environment Councillor Haydn Richards, director of technical services Richard Workman, manager of McDonalds in Llanelli Paul Martin; franchisee of McDonalds in Carmarthen Ron Mounsey; business manager of McDonalds in Cross Hands Jim Martin; McDonalds regional officer for South West and Wales Marcus Crossman and McDonalds area manager Robert Thomas.