Litter louts were today blasted for wasting public money and making Colchester a "grubby town".
More than £900,000 is spent on keeping the town's streets clean every year.
But according to Roger Buston, Colchester Council's portfolio holder for street services, it is money down the drain.
He said throwing rubbish away in the streets was a "peculiar English disease".
"People don't think it's cool to take their rubbish home, they are just idle and they are making our lovely town quite grubby.
"We are not good at behaving responsibly as citizens and that's so sad."
In a recent survey carried out by public sector union GMB, 11 per cent of Colchester's streets were deemed to be dirty.
Tendring was the filthiest region in Essex at 25.4 per cent, while the cleanest was revealed as Maldon at 2.8 per cent.
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