EAST Hampshire District Council this week re-affirmed its zero-tolerance approach to litter, following an episode of BBC One’s Panorama, which exposed controversial incentives for so-called “litter police” elsewhere in the country.

In the past few weeks, the district council has hired out its own litter-enforcement services to other local councils - currently Havant Borough Council, Hart District Council and Arun District Council.

The practice involves litter enforcement officers - men or women in security style uniforms equipped with body-worn cameras - catching people red handed.

In public places, they surreptitiously film acts of littering as they unfold. Once a person has dropped an item considered to be litter, they confront them and issuing an on-the-spot fine of £75. With video evidence and the threat of further legal proceedings, those caught in the act generally conclude it is easier to just pay up. The authoritarian uniform probably helps too.

The BBC highlighted some controversial versions of the practice, investigating one firm, Kingdom Services, which allegedly offers employees bonus incentives for catching litter bugs. The firm has offices all over the UK including in Basingstoke and London.

Officers were filmed handing out fines for “tiny pieces of dropped orange peel and poured-away coffee”.

Under the Environmental Protection Act, littering is a crime - and this includes cigarette butts - but if you pay the fine you can avoid a criminal record.

While East Hampshire District Council’s enforcement officers are not on commission schemes, critics of this kind of enforcement highlight that they need to hand out sufficient fines to justify their existence.

But their presence may well act as a deterrent once people understand what they are up to and just how high the stakes are for dropping litter.

But, of course, if they are too successful on this front they would become an unnecessary expense.

A district council spokesman said that all funds generated are poured back into the council’s pot and ultimately benefit the tax-paying public.

He said litter was a “high priority” for residents and “costs councils many thousands to collect and dispose of”. “As a result councils need to work together, in innovative ways, to tackle the problem,” he said.

“We have approached other authorities offering to run their litter-enforcement services for them.

“East Hampshire District Council recognised the challenges of a wholly commercial approach and culture. We set up our own company to better balance the needs of the residents, the place and the finances and we train our officers according to that ethos. Our aim is to help create a better community. Our scheme is run by a company which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the council.

“The service is funded by the fines generated while any surplus is returned to the public purse and put towards environmental projects in East Hampshire.

“We tailor our service according to the requirements of the council we are working for, but it’s always important to us and our clients that the officers behave respectfully and appropriately when carrying out their duties. We believe it is not fair that thousands of pounds are spent cleaning up after the inconsiderate few.

“Our message is always clear - if you don’t drop litter you won’t be fined.”

According to the campaign group Keep Britain Tidy, across the country the cost of clearing up litter exceeded £1billion last year and a further £1bn was spent clearing up waste.

Allison Ogden Nash, chief executive of Keep Britain Tidy, told the BBC: “Enforcement is one of the methods we can use to change people’s behaviour but it needs to be fair and it needs to have the public on our side.”