McDonald's has responded to the concerns of the Penryn man who picked up the fast-food chains branded litter two hours after reopening.

Ned was on his way home from his boat in Mylor accompanied by his dog, Blaze, when they discovered the litter on the side of the road.

Due to new training on social distancing, a spokesperson for Cornwall Mcdonald's said that extra litter picking trips from staff were "not possible".

"Changes have been implemented that our staff do not come into contact with customers at all during their visits," the spokesperson said.

"Unfortunately it is really not possible or safe at the moment for our staff to be leaving the premises to do extra litter patrols."

Many residents have been speaking out about the rubbish they are finding around the town and beyond, with one resident claiming to have picked up twenty pieces of Mcdonald's branded rubbish on Swanpool Beach.

The issue has led to many residents discussing ways this can be dealt with for good. A popular suggestion is the printing of registration numbers on the packaging so litterers can be identified.

"I know that just today, McDonald's has created posts about this on social media to get the message far and wide as it seems to be a countrywide problem," the spokesperson continued.

"It has taken a few weeks to ensure the restaurants are as safe as possible to open back up for our staff, with lots of changes inside."

The McDonald's Cornwall spokesperson went on to specify what the company usually does before this situation arose:

"We provide plenty of bins for our rubbish. Although customers are not allowed to stay on-site at this current time.

"We organise an event called 'love where you live' every few months. This is where a large group of us from all restaurants do things like litter picks on beaches and local areas.

"We've worked alongside the national trust in the past.

"We've have done a 'hedge clearing' project previously.

"All stores perform what we call a 'trash walk', this is where our staff pick up rubbish in the surrounding sites of our restaurants.

"Our recycling within the company is also very high on our priorities.

"Our ambition is to send zero waste to landfill. We currently recycle our cups which not many other companies do.

"We are in the process of reducing the amount of plastic we use and turning to paper products instead. We have already done this with straws.

"We much prefer our Customers to use our bins and recycling facilities in-store as it's sent away to be turned into a low-grade fuel to run our delivery trucks. I don't know of any other companies that do this. Obviously, at the moment, this cannot happen.

"We take a lot of pride in what we do towards the environment and I am really quite proud to work for a company that does so much and is still improving."