There are calls for action against litter.
McDonald’s and Starbucks are based off Trafford Road.
McDonald’s and Starbucks should pay towards tackling litter problems in Salford Quays, a councillor has said.
Coun Jonathan Moore, a Lib Dem, said wrappers and packaging from the chains are ending up on the streets and blowing in the waterways.
The companies have a site each based off Trafford Road next to Salford Quays tram stop.
“The litter problem generally increased significantly after McDonald’s opened, and of course you can identify McDonald’s because it’s all branded,” Coun Moore said.
“It isn’t actually just McDonald’s either, there is also an increase in litter from the Starbucks which is adjacent to McDonald’s.
“Some of that litter then just blows around in the wind and it ends up in the water.”
Salford Watersports Centre, operated by Salford Community Leisure, has been using its boat to help clear rubbish away, Coun Moore added.
In a Facebook post, he wrote that the centre had been given a contract with the council for six hours a week of litter clearing, up from an existing two hour arrangement.
McDonald’s litter in Salford Quays.
Campaigners and volunteers in the Quays also head out about once a month to pick litter left on the streets.
The Salford Quays councillor said companies who are part of the issue should contribute to fixing it, by offering a sum to the council to be used for tackling litter, or by contributing to the Watersports Centre.
He said this money could help to employ someone to be out and about litter picking in the neighbourhood every day.
“There ought to be a proper contribution going straight to the Watersports Centre for all the work that they’re doing in the water, because that’s a bit that nobody else can do, and they are having to do it.
“But the more broader issue of the stuff that’s still on the land that anybody could pick up, absolutely, they should be contributing to that, because unless they send a team of people out every day, covering quite a large area, which clearly they are not, then somebody else has to do it.”
However, he acknowledged that part of the issue is down to people throwing their rubbish on the floor rather than using bins.
McDonald’s, Starbucks, and Salford council were approached for comment.