MCDONALD’S restaurant teams in Somerset have taken part in litter picks all around Somerset this summer in a bid to keep their local areas tidy.

130 crew volunteers and helpers from the McDonald’s restaurants in Taunton, Weston-super-Mare, Yeovil, Bridgwater, Minehead, Portishead, and Street collected more than 100 full bags of rubbish between them this summer – including tyres, toasters and kettles, and several shoes.

McDonald’s Franchisee, Tim Lamb, owns and operates 13 restaurants around Somerset.

He said: “I couldn’t be prouder of my fantastic teams all around Somerset for giving back to their local communities this summer, ensuring that the local areas we all enjoy are clear of litter for all those who live here.

“As McDonald’s celebrates its 50th year in the UK, we continue to put people at the very heart of what we do, and this is just one example of our dedication to being a good neighbour.”

McDonald’s crew members have been cleaning up litter dropped in local communities for over 35 years.

Crews across the UK cover a total of 5,000 miles each week on litter patrols (where they collect all types of litter, not just McDonald’s branded packaging).

This equates to 260,000 miles, or the distance from Earth to the Moon since the programme began in the late ‘80s.

McDonald’s is tackling litter in local communities, both by litter picking and reducing the amount of waste its restaurants produce.

The brand has been working to make recycling easier over the past four years too, and since 2015, has installed over 1,100 new recycling units, meaning it’s easier to separate plastics and cups for recycling in 85 per cent of its restaurants.

McDonald’s also collects used oil from its kitchens and turns this into enough biodiesel to fuel more than half of its delivery fleet.