NINETY children under the age of 16 have been handed £80 fines for dropping litter within the last year.

Glasgow City Council revealed the extent of young litter louts in the city between January 2018 and 2019.

But figures obtained through a Freedom of Information request showed the number of fixed penalty notices being issued had dropped from the previous year, with 110 youngsters being caught dropping rubbish in 2017.

In 2016 there were 224 kids fined by anti-litter teams - more than double the amount in the last two years.

Pete Leonard, of Keep Scotland Beautiful, believes the environmental charity’s education project could be on reason for the reduction in youths dropping litter.

The charity operation director said: “Litter is the core topic of our Eco-Schools Scotland programme and all participating schools are working on a litter problem in their community.

“Our 25 years’ experience with schools shows that taking young people on a clean up is the best way to help them see the time and effort involved in dealing with the consequences of litter. It helps to instil a sense of belonging to their community and encourages them to care for the places where they live.

“In the past year, we have seen a 42 per cent increase in the number of schools taking part in our Spring Clean, highlighting the increasing awareness among young people about the importance of caring for their environment.”

A Glasgow City Council spokeswoman said: “Littering is anti-social and detrimental to the environment we all share.

“We use a range of measures and initiatives to tackle the problem, with an overall focus on prevention and changing behaviour.

“Enforcement is one part of that wider approach and we will issue Fixed Penalty Notices (FPN) to those caught committing an offence.

“However, the purpose of issuing a FPN is not to make money. It’s about using the offence to engage with people and encourage a change in their behaviour and attitude toward environmental incivilities.

“It’s also why we provide an alternative to the payment of the FPN through participation in a Fine or Time community clean-up. This is designed to encourage environmental custodianship and discourage future littering. If young people are dropping less litter as a result then that can only be a good thing.”