THE Pan-Essex Love Essex campaign led to a reduction of over 40 percent in fast food litter across the county.

The campaign, running throughout the summer, saw local authorities across Essex join forces with Essex County Council, RP2 media, The Highways Agency and fast food partners, McDonalds, KFC and Dominos, to raise awareness of the issue of litter and the risk of fines for those that offend.

Love Essex gained national support from environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, which undertook a review of the campaign, including monitoring of specific sites over several weeks. Its findings, announced this week, have shown a 21 perecnt overall decrease in the amount litter across the county, with a 41 percent decrease in branded fast food litter.

Janette Potter, in charge of waste management, said: “This is the first time all Essex local authorities have come together to help stamp out littering. The message is very clear that in Chelmsford we will not tolerate littering of any kind. “Street cleansing alone costs taxpayers over £17 million a year in Essex, money which could be better spent.

“To receive a 41 percent decrease in fast food litter is excellent and demonstrates the importance of partnership working to tackle these important issues. We will continue this fight against littering and change public attitudes towards it even further.”

McDonald’s Franchisee Cherry Lewis-Taylor commented: “Since the Love Essex campaign started, there has been a noticeable drop in the amount of litter that you see around the county which is great. I think the results of the campaign demonstrate the power of councils, businesses and communities working together across the whole of Essex.

“I hope that we continue to see the amount of litter in the area decrease and would encourage people to carry on disposing of their litter responsibly.”

Keep Britain Tidy Chief Executive Phil Barton added: “The Love Essex campaign is a model of how, by working together, businesses and local authorities can make a real difference.

“The partnership is to be congratulated on its successful campaign. It provides a model that could be replicated up and down the country to help keep the places where we all live and work clean and litter-free.”