MCDONALD’S workers have been tackling litter at Birchwood Forest Park – the site where a lot of its fast food packaging ends up.

Dave Shaw, who runs the Birchwood Shopping Centre restaurant, and 12 staff volunteers spruced up the park which covers all the green areas throughout Birchwood, including Gorse Covert, Oakwood and Locking Stumps.

It follows a call from Birchwood councillor Russ Bowden in May for the fast food chain to mark its takeaway bags with car registration numbers to help combat littering in the town.

The group teamed up Keep Britain Tidy for the litter pick which saw 17 bin bags of rubbish filled in three and a half hours.

Dave said: "When businesses like mine and community members work together we are able to achieve so much more and this event is a perfect example of that."

Rich McIlwain, Keep Britain Tidy’s interim chief executive, added: "McDonald’s has shown a real commitment to tackling the problem of litter, both through their own business practices and through their work with communities to clear up the area.

"Daily litter patrols, Love Where You Live activities throughout the year and the business’s continued support of Keep Britain Tidy’s aims, show that they understand the importance of clean and tidy places, and demonstrate a level of commitment that should be a model for all businesses."

Since McDonald’s began supporting the ‘Love Where You Live’ campaign, more than 1,000 events and activity days have been organised by restaurant staff in the UK, involving more than 30,000 volunteers.

McDonald’s claims that its restaurant staff patrol the streets at least three times a day to collect all litter that has been dropped.

Cllr Bowdon said: "It is well known that litter from fast food outlets goes up to 5km away and unfortunately we see a lot of it at Birchwood Forest Park.

"I suggested this location for McDonald's first litter pick and so I am pleased that they have acted upon it."