While walking around Swindon recently, I have noticed a huge rise in the amount of rubbish in the streets.

Most of this urban flotsam appears to be snack food and soft drink containers, carelessly discarded.

Unfortunately the biggest culprits would seem to be a sizeable minority of young people, who seem to have little regard for the mess they are creating.

An incident which highlights the problem occurred the other day at the McDonalds outlet on Great Western Way.

As I, my wife and daughters parked in the car park we noticed a number of cars with young lads parked up while they were eating their food.

Upon finishing their meal, the windows of the cars were wound down and the rubbish, including half eaten burgers, was dropped onto the ground. This was despite the fact that I counted eight large waste bins within a few feet of the cars in question.

It would be unfair to blame McDonalds for the mess, as it seems to have provided more than enough waste facilities to properly dispose of people's rubbish and staff are constantly out clearing the car park there.

Are people becoming so lazy that even the effort of walking a few feet to a bin, or taking their rubbish home, is just too much trouble?

Or have people become so used to seeing the growing sea of rubbish in the streets that they no longer think about, or care, where they deposit their own rubbish?

Perhaps it is time littering was taken more seriously, with stiffer penalties, before we are wading knee deep in a flood of Coke cans, bottles, crisp packets and discarded food.

Apart from encouraging the rise in the vermin population, as recently reported, it is making the town look decidedly dirty and at times seedy despite the apparent affluence of the majority of the people who now live here.

Vance A Willis

Leighton Avenue, Swindon