The government has announced a £500,000 fund to help communities tackle littering.

The Government Litter Innovation Fund will help support the development of innovative new approaches for slashing the amount of rubbish ending up in the natural environment.

This will include actions ranging from behavioural research for better positioned bins and recycling points to digital technology such as mobile apps and smart-bins to manage collection and cleaning patterns.

Local authorities, community groups, charities, educational institutions and small and medium enterprises can apply for the funding.

Clearing litter costs the tax payer almost £800 million a year – as many as a fifth of people have admitted to dropping litter in the past.

Environment Minister Thérèse Coffey, said: “The Litter Innovation Fund offers a great opportunity for the most creative solutions to littering to receive funding and for us all to learn new ways of how to stop littering happening.

“10% of the fund is entirely dedicated to preventing marine litter, a growing problem with global consequences for our precious marine environment.”

EU waste rules could reportedly cost Britain as much as £2 billion over the next 20 years.