A survey has found that 90% of Scots believe that litter is an issue across the country, the highest figure since records began.

Environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful published two new reports on Friday - the Scottish Litter Survey, a public perception snapshot conducted by the Diffley Partnership and a ground litter report How clean are our streets? - both revealing the depth and breadth of what they described as "Scotland's litter emergency".

The former found that 90% of those surveyed believe litter is a problem across the nation, while the latter revealed that litter levels continue to significantly impact the cleanliness of our streets and roads with 75% of sites being littered while one in 10 were observed to have a significant presence adversely affecting the cleanliness of the area.

The Scottish Litter Survey found that 39% of respondents believe that litter in general has become more of a problem in their area over the past 12 months, a perception which was amplified in the least affluent areas of the country.

Read More: Dundee-designed climate disaster-proof homes protecting Bangladesh from floods

The ground litter survey backed that up, finding that levels of litter are more significant in poorer areas, while 27% of sites recorded the presence of litter which would be recoverable under the proposed Deposit Return Scheme (DRS).

Barry Fisher, Chief Executive at Keep Scotland Beautiful, said: “Scotland is facing a litter emergency - and there is consistent recognition of this annually. 

"The data we’ve published today only strengthens the need for positive and imminent change across all areas, from innovative behaviour change interventions, to bin provision and servicing, to enforcement and the speedy introduction of policies which we urgently need to ensure our country has a more circular economy.

"We can’t keep saying that there is a problem.  We need to ensure we reverse the trend with consistent, collective action.

Get a whole year of The Herald for only £20.

“The National Litter and Flytipping Strategy and Action Plan launched earlier this year are vital and a positive step in the right direction.

"We remain committed to supporting the Strategy and are already seeing shifts as communities, businesses and industry step up to play their part. But, if we are serious about tackling this issue adequate and meaningful resourcing is needed alongside the implementation of delayed policy and proposed schemes.

“With 40% of sites recording litter types that would be covered under current Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regulations, it is clear that any further policy delay will severely impact our ability to reverse the trend in declining environmental quality, particularly ground litter.”