A “litter explosion” since the opening of a drive-through McDonald’s in Inverness last week has prompted the US chain to carry out extensive sweeps of the area.
Since Wednesday, the new fast food outlet has done a roaring trade – but many residents in Inshes and Cradlehall have complained about a tide of rubbish since it opened for business.
Cradlehall and Westhill Community Council chairman Duncan Macpherson visited the new outlet to express his concern about “the recent explosion of litter” strewn across nearby roads by thoughtless diners leaving the restaurant.
“I’m keen to improve driver behaviour and to discourage drivers and their passengers from simply throwing the unwanted packaging out their car windows,” he said.
“I got a very helpful reception from their area manager and he agreed to help out to resolve the problem of litter from their restaurant.”
Mr Macpherson offered to distribute notes to car drivers urging consideration by disposing of McDonald’s packaging responsibly or taking it home with them.
The company yesterday confirmed that it had instigated a wide sweep of the Inshes area.
Craig Duncan, franchisee of the week-old McDonald’s branch at the retail park and others across the city, has contacted local Highland councillors to assure them that the company is on the case and offered to liaise with the local community councils.
He said: “We’re aware that some customers are, unfortunately, not disposing of litter as responsibly as we’d like.
“We were pretty swamped when we opened. Customers certainly liked to visit. But this, although a good problem to have, has given us knock-on issues such as litter.
“We have now developed a litter walk plan, covering the surrounding roads, which we’re aiming to carry out twice a day.
“However, yesterday (Tuesday) we sent a couple of guys out for a couple of hours and they came back with six black bags full, so we’re going to do this again to get ahead of the issue.”
He added that McDonald’s prides itself in tackling the litter issue whether through mass litter picks or sponsoring bins or taking part in educational programmes.
