McDonald's has argued against putting customers' car registrations on their takeaway bags, as had been looked at as part of a plan to tackle littering.
Swansea Council's head of waste, Chris Howell, said in a meeting this week that the Welsh Government had explored this idea with McDonald's in a bid to discourage littering. Mr Howell said his own view was that it was a good idea but that applying it could be problematic. He told the council's climate change corporate delivery committee there was an issue about which fast-food companies would "go first" with such an initiative.
He said: "If McDonald's do it, then people will just go to Burger King instead of McDonald's, because nobody wants to have their private details printed on that packaging."
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The Local Democracy Reporting Service contacted McDonald's, Burger King, KFC and Greggs to ask their thoughts on the registration printing idea on drive-through packaging, but only McDonald's responded at the time of going to press.
A spokeswoman for the burger giant said: "Encouraging our customers to dispose of our packaging responsibly is something we take seriously at McDonald’s and we have looked into this proposal a number of times over the years.
"Unfortunately, we are not able to process our customers’ data in this way. Additionally, we have concerns around the effectiveness of printing registration plate numbers on our packaging or receipts, and are not convinced that it would provide strong enough evidence to support local authorities in prosecuting litter offences.
"We remain open to the proposal in principle and continue to keep its feasibility under review."
She said McDonald's supported anti-litter campaigns and initiatives with Keep Britain Tidy, Keep Wales Tidy and environmental charity Hubbub.
But the idea isn't being taken forward by the Welsh Government. A spokesman said: "There are no current plans to introduce a requirement for drive-through restaurants to add vehicle registration details to fast food drive-through packaging. We are continuing to support Keep Wales Tidy with other initiatives to tackle roadside litter including their No Regrets campaign and their Adopt a Highway initiative."
Plaid Cymru launched a petition in 2020 calling on fast-food companies to print number plates on drive-through packaging after an increase in litter as people headed to outlets after the first coronavirus lockdown.
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