Residents have shared their thoughts on whether printing customers’ licence plates on food wrappers would solve the takeaway littering problem in Gedling.
The idea, raised by James Wild, Tory MP for North West Norfolk, is to restrict people from discarding takeaway rubbish in the countryside as their plate details will be printed on food wrapping papers.
This happens after ministers modified the legislation so that councils could impose a civil punishment on the vehicle owners from which trash is tossed instead of having to prove who did it.
This plan has been trialled by McDonald’s with their takeaways to prevent drivers from throwing litter out of their vehicles.
Mark Lawson, 54, from Colwick, agreed the idea would have a good impact on the area.
He said: “The plan will stop people throwing rubbish all over the street because if it helps track down the people who did it, and with the appropriate fines, they will learn not to do it again.
“They can make this happen if they put in the effort and it depends on who is going to do it, whether it’s going to be the council or the police.
“For me, the littering problem in Gedling is not too bad, but I’d be happy to follow if the idea comes to fruition.”
However, Christine Williams, of Beaumaris Drive, didn’t think the plan would work.
She said: “I don’t think it’s a good idea. The papers could be blown elsewhere and never picked up and it would also cost a lot of money to print people’s details on them.
“McDonald’s is going to need a lot of work if they want to do this. However, that won’t be difficult for them since they have a lot of resources. If they succeed, it’s totally fine by me.
“At first, I didn’t pay much attention, but now that I look closely, I see a lot of litter on the roads in this area. I know that this problem needs to be addressed, but I don’t think this plan will work.”
Having spent 23 years in the foodservice industry, David Murphy, owner of It’s Inn The Bank, said he would be “100 per cent” happy to follow through if the scheme were implemented despite admitting that it would need more than an idea to tackle the issue.
He said: “It’s a great idea and we will see how it’s going to be carried out.
“We have bins everywhere around and we have staff to collect the litter. We even got a contract with Gedling to ensure that all our rubbish ends up in those bins.
“However, I think the social responsibility of this country is alarming. The amount of time we go to the back of our building only to see somebody fill our bins with their rubbish is unreal.
“As far as I’m concerned, there are two generations that have been brought up to think that it’s fine to go to fast-food restaurants, park around the corner, eat their food, and just throw it out of the window.
“Unfortunately, I think it’s going to take more than an idea like that to change because there are still many people who don’t think that is their responsibility and there aren’t enough people to chase it up.”
Gedling MP Tom Randall said he wanted to see the result of the trial before thinking about the next steps.
He said: “This is an interesting idea by McDonald’s. I look forward to seeing the outcome of their trial to see whether it works.
“I know that there is a lot of concern in Gedling about discarding food wrappers. We all have a responsibility to pick up our litter and any idea that might help to tidy up our environment is worth trying.”
The idea was first issued two years ago by the Plaid Cymru party in Wales. Last year, the Welsh government had talks with McDonald’s to discuss the plan to print vehicle registration numbers on their takeaway bags to prevent passengers from littering.
