New takeaways must play their part in cleaning-up after customers, says a new report, with figures revealing that fast food items are now the fourth most common type of litter found on UK high streets.

Councils in England are being told stricter rules are there for them to use in order to clamp down on takeaway litter - particularly when it comes to granting planning permission to new businesses selling hot food.

The guidance, which has been published by the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, now gives English councils clear and consistent advice on what rules they can enforce when new takeaways open to ensure that no new outlet increases the impact of litter on local communities.

These might include ensuring the company takes responsibility for installing more bins, adds anti-litter signs around shops or that staff members have to commit to regularly picking up rubbish outside their business.

Litter generated from hot food takeaways, acknowledges the new guidance, is often dropped some distance away from the takeaway itself and so councils can and should consider the possible impact on the wider area any new venture might have before it is given permission to begin trading.

Insisting new takeaways carry out litter picking to collect rubbish 'which has been deposited further away from the immediate vicinity' is also among the tougher conditions councils could also put in place - with financial penalties for those firms caught ignoring the rules they've signed up to.

Levelling Up Secretary Greg Clark said: "We are empowering councils to make sure new takeaway food businesses are doing their bit to stop rubbish littering our high streets.

"It is just one of the many ways we are improving the environment and making sure we can all take pride in the local communities we call home."

Making sure takeaway customers take home their litter or get rid of it responsibly is something many fast food chains already do - with firms like McDonald's among those which commits to helping keep tidy the communities within which it trades.

In 2021 the fast food chain revealed that staff, on average, collect 27 tonnes of rubbish every year during the litter patrols that take place around every one of its restaurants three times a day where they collect all rubbish and not just that generated by its customers.

A number of councils, says the DLUHC report, are also already putting the suggested requests into place - among them Gateshead Council which has ordered that all new takeaways setting up shop must provide litter bins for their customers.

The announcement that councils can and should do more to deal with takeaway litter follows follows funding pledges from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to remove chewing gum stains from high streets across the country.

More than 40 councils have received grants of up to £70,000 to remove chewing gum stains - including Gravesham and Sevenoaks in Kent.