Maidstone town centre is a cleaner place, according to data collected along with the litter by the council.

In January, Maidsotne council launched a campaign to cut down on the amount of litter generated by customers of the fast food establishments in Week Street, the High Street and Gabriels Hill.

Now a survey of litter on the streets in four key locations has indicated a 57 per cent drop since last December.

The cabinet member for the environment, Cllr Mark Wooding (Con), said: “This is a fantastic figure and proves the campaign was well worth doing. This kind of figure provides an excellent starting point to work from to keep improving the situation.”

The 'food-on-the-go’ campaign was intended to raise awareness about the consequences and dangers of littering through surveys, competitions and giveaways.

Jamie Mann from Snodland was the winner of one competition, which was to guess the number of cans in a sack. He guessed 87 and there were actually 88.

As the closest, he won a pair of tickets to see a show of his choice at the Hazlitt Theatre.

Cllr Wooding added: “It’s good to see people, like Jamie, taking an interest in what we are doing. This campaign has been a success and we hope to continue this momentum in other environmental campaigns we do.”