Litter is a growing problem in many British cities

New figures from the campaign suggest 86% of local authorities are spending record amounts on cleaning-up.

But the group says complaints about litter have risen and that the rat population has risen by 24% since 2001.

It wants businesses which benefit from the booming night-time economy to help pay for the clean up, saying their drunken customers fuel the problem.

Our night-time economy is based mostly on alcohol consumption and if we are not careful, our rubbish-strewn towns will become no-go areas during day time Keep Britain Tidy

"Late night licences have brought a massive injection of cash into our towns and cities," said Alan Woods, Keep Britain Tidy chief executive.

"But the simple fact is many councils cannot cope with the rubbish revellers leave behind."

The group said fast food litter had risen 50% in the last three years, that 30% of our streets had problems with bottles, cans and glasses and that 39% of councils employed fewer than 20 full-time cleaners.

Mr Woods added: "Our night-time economy is based mostly on alcohol consumption and if we are not careful, our rubbish-strewn towns will become no-go areas during day time."

Industry anger

Keep Britain Tidy wants businesses that benefit from longer opening hours to pay for extra street cleaning which they do in cities such as Washington, New York and Philadelphia.

The group is launching a poster campaign aimed at young people.

But Adrian Herdman, president of the National Federation of Fish Friers, said his members could not agree to pay more for the streets to be cleaned or follow a new government directive to clean up litter up to 300m away from their shops.

"They should make the people who drop the litter responsible for it. This couldn't be any closer to the nanny state.