UK farmers call for number plates to be printed on takeaway bags in bid to stop littering

One farmer said there was a "constant tide of littering" from people driving through the area.
One farmer said there was a "constant tide of littering" from people driving through the area. Photo credit: File / Getty

Farmers in the UK are calling for fast food companies to print the customers' number plates on takeaway bags.

They say they are sick of people throwing their rubbish from their cars and it ending up on their land.

Tom Martin, a farmer in Cambridgeshire, told the Telegraph there was a "constant tide of littering" from people driving through the area.

"On our farm we are picking up litter like that every day, it isn't even a main road," he told the British newspaper.

He said his cattle would "eat anything" and he was concerned they would ingest the rubbish if the littering doesn't stop.

Mike Ashby, an asparagus farmer from Oundle, said tak away bags were dumped along country roads in the area every Friday and Saturday night.

Martin suggested fast food companies simply printed the car registration number on the takeaway bags when people ordered their food.

"It would make people think twice before littering if it had their details on it. It's 2019 and there must be ways to use technology to make sure we are rid of this scourge of littering," he told the Telegraph.

A spokesperson for McDonald's in the UK told the paper the company took its "commitment to being a good neighbour seriously".

"We produce packaging, not litter, and 80 percent of this i­s currently recyclable, with clear instructions displayed on the outside as to how to dispose of and recycle it."

The company said it also worked with the UK Government to support its litter prevention strategies.