CleanStreets
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Key Points
- CleanStreets is a UK Community Interest Company, set up to tackle smoking related litter.
- It appears to be wholly funded by the Tobacco Manufacturers Association and/or its members: BAT, JTI and Imperial Brands.
- CleanStreets has funded Keep Britain Tidy (KBT) since 2022.
- Local authorities who work with CleanStreets or its grantees risk breaching Article 5.3 of the WHO FCTC.
CleanStreets was established as a Community Interest Company (CIC) in the UK in 2021.1 Its stated aim is to “understand and research the causes of smoking-related litter and tackle the behaviours that lead to smoking-related litter polluting the natural world”.2
CleanStreets appears to be directly and wholly funded by the Tobacco Manufacturers Association (TMA) and/or its members.234 In turn, CleanStreets funds the UK environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, for “research and practical interventions into smoking-related litter”.5 It does not appear to fund any other organisations. See below for more information.
Cigarette filters pose a major environmental hazard. They are typically made of a plastic called cellulose acetate, which takes a long time to degrade and when it does releases poisonous chemicals – including nicotine.678 The tobacco industry has resisted proposals to reduce the environmental impact of filters.9 New variants of filtered cigarettes continue to be promoted to retailers by the industry and industry-linked actors.10 Tobacco companies use CSR strategies, including ‘greenwashing’, to present themselves as responsible corporations, and to distract from the overwhelming harm they cause to the environment.11 See Tobacco and the Environment for more information on this topic.
Background
CleanStreets was incorporated as a CIC in August 2021, and is registered at UK Companies House.112
Directors include two members of the UK House of Lords.113 Two other directors are trustees of Keep Britain Tidy.1314 See People below for details.
Relationship to the Tobacco Industry
Funded by the TMA
CleanStreets’s website states that it “secure[s] funding from all available sources”. However, it appears that its only source of funding is the TMA and its member companies. The CleanStreets website states that it has received:
“a major grant from the member companies of the Tobacco Manufacturers’ Association (TMA), British American Tobacco UK Ltd., Imperial Tobacco Ltd., and Gallaher Ltd.[a member of the Japan Tobacco Group of Companies].”2
The CleanStreets financial reports filed with Companies House states it received grant funding, from three members of the TMA: Imperial Tobacco (Imperial Brands), Gallaher (Japan Tobacco International, JTI) and British American Tobacco (BAT).151617 Grant income reported in CleanStreets annual financial statements was close to GB£5.9 million in 2021-2,17 GB£11.2 million in 2022-3,16 and GB£12.2 million in 2023-4.15 (All figures rounded)
Most of this was paid out in grants to Keep Britain Tidy (see below for details).
The directors (see below) also received remuneration: a total of GB£59,000 in 2021-2,17 GB£140,000 in 2022-3,16 and GB£97,000 in 2023-4.15 (Rounded)
Extended Producer Responsibility
In 2020, a government-industry roundtable attended by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) and Keep Britain Tidy encouraged tobacco companies to consider developing a non-regulatory responsibility scheme.18 However, the government later appeared to favour regulation as a more effective approach; Rebecca Pow MP, then environment minister, said she wanted to look at how cigarette companies could be held fully responsible for the problem of cigarette litter.1819 20 Ministers appeared to be considering an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), or “polluter pays” scheme, in order to recoup around GB£40 million a year in clean-up costs, and potentially fund stop-smoking activities.19 However, this plan did not go ahead. In 2022, CleanStreets began funding Keep Britain Tidy (see below for details).21
EPR schemes are intended to reduce the burden of industrial damage to society. However, tobacco companies have also exploited EPR schemes in order to ‘greenwash’ their public image, while also taking the opportunity to interact with policy makers as a potential route to weakening health regulation.2223 CleanStreets states that its funding arrangement with the TMA does not prevent the introduction of a regulatory EPR scheme.24 However, EPR is most effective where the companies make financial reparations through taxes to government, and are excluded from practical activities.22
In 2025, the UK government said that it had no plans to introduce EPR or ban cigarette filters: “Defra believes the best way to tackle littering of filters is through reductions in smoking rates”. It cited the new Tobacco and Vapes Bill which aims to create a “smoke-free generation” (which became law in 2026).25 (See also Interference with Endgame Policies)
People
CleanStreets’s directors are listed on its website:13
- David Maclean, Baron Blencathra. Member of the UK House of Lords. Shadow Minister, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).2627 Vice Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Parks and Green Spaces.28 In 2021, when the CleanStreets CIC was established, Lord Blencathra declared accepting hospitality from the TMA.29
He was previously Deputy Chair of Natural England,303132 and a member of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC). Both roles ended when there was a change of government in 2024.273334
He supported an amendment to the 2026 Tobacco and Vapes Bill which proposed replacing the smokefree generation policy with a sales age of 21+,3536 and opposed the bill at the Second Reading.37 (See Interference with Endgame Policies) He has previously put forward arguments made by tobacco companies in a House of Lords sub-committee, in relation to plain packaging and illicit trade. See The Common Sense Alliance.
- Lord Porter, Member of the UK House of Lords. Previously held roles in government departments responsible for housing and communities, from 2021 to 2024.38 He has not declared any interests in relation to the TMA.39 His registered interests include a directorship of Porter and Verrells Limited, whose clients include HG Innovation (an e-cigarette manufacturer in Hong Kong).3940
- Ray Mills, Person with Significant Control (PSC) of CleanStreets CIC.1 Trustee of Keep Britain Tidy.41
- Kresse Wesling, environmental entrepreneur. PSC of CleanStreets CIC.1 Trustee of Keep Britain Tidy.41
- Dr Dannielle Green, Associate Professor of Ecology and the director of the Applied Ecology Research Group at Anglia Ruskin University.4243
- Dr Martin Valenti, sustainability practitioner.
Activities: Keep Britain Tidy
The CleanStreets website states that it funds UK-wide work to reduce smoking-related litter, including billboard advertising, radio and TV campaigns, and social media activities.44 It states that it has funded research and campaign work under its cigarette-related litter programme, including a ‘Smoking-Related Litter’ research review, a baseline litter survey, and annual cigarette-related litter impact reports.45 It appears that Keep Britain Tidy have delivered most of these programmes.45
In November 2025, Lord Blencathra said during a House of Lords debate that CleanStreets “work hand in glove with Keep Britain Tidy, tackling cigarette litter on pavements”.46
Two directors of CleanStreets – Ray Mills and Kresse Wesling – are also Trustees of Keep Britain Tidy (see also People above).41 Allison Odgen-Newton OBE, chief executive of Keep Britain Tidy since 2015, was appointed non-executive board member at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in 2025.4748
Previous work with tobacco companies
Keep Britain Tidy previously collaborated with tobacco companies on anti-litter and cigarette-waste campaigns.4950 In 2011, Keep Britain Tidy coordinated a “Love Where You Live” campaign, which was co-founded by Imperial Tobacco and JTI.505152 The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) was initially a partner, but in early 2013 the government stopped funding the campaign in order to comply with the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). In December 2013, Keep Britain Tidy announced that it would no longer work with or accept money from the tobacco industry.53 For details of this earlier campaign, see CSR: Imperial and Love Where You Live
CleanStreets funding
Financial statements published on the Charity Commission website show that Keep Britain Tidy’s income increased significantly after receiving grants from CleanStreets. 5455 Its reported total income in 2020-21 was GB£4.3 million.54 It received GB£9.6 million from CleanStreets in the first year of funding,56 GB£2 million in the second,56 and GB£1.2 million in the third.57 In 2025, its total reported income was over GB£16 million.54
Transparency
Keep Britain Tidy has a web page titled “Cigarette Butts Are Rubbish”. It states that between 2022 and 2024, it “reduced cigarette litter across the country by 17%”.58 As of May 2026, there appeared to be no reference to funding from CleanStreets on this web page, nor on the Donation and Fundraising page.59
Keep Britain Tidy published a statement on another page of its website in April 2026:
“We believe that neither Keep Britain Tidy nor our partners delivering this important work have been in breach of the World Health Organisation’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Clause [sic] 5.3.”60
Keep Britain Tidy reports CleanStreets funding in its financial reports. As of May 2026, it does not state – either in these reports or on its website – that this funding comes from members of the TMA.54565761
Organisations working with government at all levels need to be transparent about their sources of income and declare any tobacco industry funding.62 It is not clear if local authorities approached to work with Keep Britain Tidy are being consistently informed that this work is funded by the tobacco industry.63
Undermining FCTC Article 5.3
In 2015 the TMA submitted evidence to the Communities and Local Government (CLG) Select Committee, arguing that UK local authorities – who were unwilling to work with the TMA – should take tobacco industry funding for tackling litter, and that this would not be a breach of article 5.3 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.6453
CleanStreets also argues that it is not in breach of the FCTC:
“For the avoidance of doubt, the activities of Cleanstreets do not involve promoting any tobacco products and, to the contrary, would in various ways emphasise the negative environmental impacts of cigarette litter. The Board of Cleanstreets operates entirely independently to its funders who have no involvement in the direction or work of Cleanstreets.”15
However, it states that it consults with officials in national and local government with responsibility for environmental and littering policy, as well as elected representatives.15 All UK Government bodies, including local authorities, are bound by article 5.3 of the FCTC,65 detailed in FCTC implementation guidelines,62 and in UK government guidelines on engagement with the tobacco industry.6667
In April 2026, after The Times reported CleanStreets’s funding of Keep Britain Tidy,21 Action on Smoking and Health published a briefing note with the University of Bath’s Centre for 21st Century Public Health. This outlined “the compliance risks associated with partnerships between local authorities and Keep Britain Tidy”.68
CleanStreets’s website states that it has a “fully independent board of experts” and that:
“Campaigns delivered by those in receipt of grant funding from the CIC must not in any way normalise or grant agreement to promote smoking or tobacco products and this is written into all contracts”.24
However, the FCTC implementation guidelines, and UK guidance, make clear that organisations receiving funding from the tobacco industry are defined as part of the tobacco industry, and any engagement should be limited to actions that are necessary for regulation.6268 Normalisation of smoking or tobacco products is not the only risk. Any collaboration with tobacco companies or funded third parties risks normalising interaction with the tobacco industry, which is itself the biggest barrier to progress in tobacco control.
Consequently, the UK guidance states that:
“Voluntary or non-binding funding to support the work of departments or other public authorities should not be accepted directly or indirectly from the tobacco industry, under any circumstances.” 6667
Tobacco companies tend to shift responsibility for waste and litter to individual consumers, rather than focusing on reducing tobacco use. Whether industry funding is direct or indirect, there is a potential conflict of interest, for example if local authorities want to include stop smoking messages in public-facing materials.21
UK guidance also states that:
“Organisations should not endorse, support, form partnerships with, or take part in activities of the tobacco industry that could be described as ‘socially responsible’.”6667
In May 2026, The Times reported that the UK minister for nature had, in October 2025, declined to support Keep Britain Tidy’s campaign, owing to it being tobacco industry-funded.69
Relevant Links
Briefing Note: Engagement with Keep Britain Tidy and Compliance with Article 5.3 of the FCTC, Action of Smoking and Health/Centre for 21st Century Public Health, April 2026
UK Tobacco Industry Interference Index 2025, Tobacco Control Research Group, 2025