A campaign to reduce litter in Dorset has come under fire for its partnership with fast food chain McDonald’s.

Sophie Colley of Litter Free Dorset attended a Weymouth Town Council meeting to give a presentation about the campaign.

However during the presentation, town councillors had questions about the businesses the campaign has been working with.

Cllr Graham Lambert said: “I note that you have some sponsorship from McDonald’s. It strikes me that McDonald’s need to get out there and do something and sponsoring and getting their logo around is not the answer, I regularly do litter picks and I’m the ‘saddo’ who sorts through all the rubbish at the end and McDonald’s is by far the biggest culprit.”

However, Sophie Colley defended the partnership with the fast food giant.

She said: “McDonald’s is the biggest culprit (for litter), there’s no doubt about that. But the way we run is that we work with people.

“If we see an issue we want to be working with that company.

“The restaurant manager in Weymouth is fantastic at talking with Litter Free Dorset and organising town centre clean-ups.

“He understands that litter is coming from his store, but at the same time he’s running a business.

“He comes to our meetings and we say things like, 'you shouldn’t have balloons in your store, can you give us an update on McDonald's introducing paper straws nationwide?'

“We have a middle-man between someone high up in the company.

“Having a relationship means we can make more change, rather than shunning a business and never getting a response.”

A spokesman for McDonald's said: “We take our responsibility to the local community extremely seriously, and that includes litter. We complete daily litter picks in the areas surrounding our restaurants, collecting others’ rubbish as well as our own. In addition to this our restaurant in Weymouth takes part in regular beach litter picks throughout the winter months. Our franchisee in Weymouth is proud to sit on both the Litter Free Dorset and Dorset Litter Free Coast and Sea steering groups which help find ways to reduce litter across the town. We would be more than happy to meet with Councillor Lambert to discuss the concerns he has raised.”