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McDonald's drive-thru reopening causes outrage as litter left on roads

The streets are once again littered with rubbish and it's being blamed on customers of McDonald's after it reopened its drive-thrus.

People have reported seeing litter on pavements, thought to have been thrown from people in their cars, and leaving the county's roads in a mess.

Fast food packaging which has been thrown to the roadside in Maidstone
Fast food packaging which has been thrown to the roadside in Maidstone

The fast food chain announced it would reopen with a limited menu on May 21 in Medway, Sittingbourne and Bobbing.

The flood of hundreds of people driving to get their long missed Big Mac or nuggets triggered huge traffic jams in Strood and Gillingham.

Since then, people have noticed an increase in rubbish left on the streets from people using the restaurants.

Tim Martin from Maidstone posted a picture of the remains of someone's meal.

Mr Martin tweeted with the image: "Guess our local McDonald's drive-thru is open again. Been so nice while they were closed we had none of this.

Many suspect people are eating the food they buy from drive-thrus then throw it from their car instead of bringing it home
Many suspect people are eating the food they buy from drive-thrus then throw it from their car instead of bringing it home

"It’s a plague around Maidstone as everywhere else. Lads in their cars go to a drive through get their food, go to a quiet spot to eat and just drop it out the car window."

Jack Walkling was furious to find someone's half eaten dinner scattered along the road.

Mr Walkling added on twitter: "So after God knows how many days and weeks it’s been since you’ve had your ‘precious’ McDonald's you decide to throw it out of your car half finished.

"I’ve got no hope for people now."

Jenni Davis, from Upnor, says her litter-picking group has seen a noticeable rise in littering of McDonald's packaging and RedBull cans.

Bins have been overflowing with all kinds of litter as people refuse to bring it home.
Bins have been overflowing with all kinds of litter as people refuse to bring it home.
Jenni Davis from Upnor says litter pickers are seeing more McDonald's and Redbull litter recently
Jenni Davis from Upnor says litter pickers are seeing more McDonald's and Redbull litter recently

She posted on Facebook on the day the chain reopened that littering had already begun. Since, she has contacted her council and is hoping to set up a big litter pick in September.

A McDonald’s Spokesperson said: “We take our responsibility around litter very seriously. For the past 30 years, we have been conducting daily litter patrols and these have continued since our recent reopening.

"We have a dedicated team carrying out litter picks in the surrounding area, collecting others’ rubbish as well as our own and we encourage customers to dispose of their litter responsibly.”

Meanwhile, with some Burger Kings planning to open this week, there is a possibility the littering will only get worse.

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