Northern Ireland's streets are their dirtiest in a decade, it can be revealed.

Just 83% of streets and open spaces in Northern Ireland met or exceeded acceptable standards - the worst return since 2005.

This means that around one in six streets and parks failed to meet acceptable standards for litter during 2014.

Environmental charity Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful said the figures "should serve as a wake-up call to the public and to councils".

The cleanest areas were found to be "low density housing areas", which tend to be more affluent estates, where just 5% failed.

The worst were found to be in rural areas, where 31% failed.

Cigarette-related litter was the most prolific, although this was found to be down 8% in one year. Next most common litter types were confectionery and drinks.

Broken glass was observed on 12% of the 287 areas examined, indicating a risk of injury to people or animals.

Dog fouling was recorded in 10% of areas, down slightly from 11% last year.

These findings were discovered in the Northern Ireland Litter Survey 2014. Our annual street cleaning bill is around £40m, and it has been estimated that we lose up to £7m in coastal tourism because of litter.

Report author Chris Allen said the amount of litter on our streets was rising, yet cleansing budgets remained almost static.

"With just a few weeks until the new super councils come into being, this should serve as a wake-up call to the public and to councils," he said.

"Cleansing budgets have remained almost static at a little under £40 million in the last three years, yet the amount of litter on our streets is rising. This is simply unsustainable. Councils are fighting a valiant but losing battle.

"The army of street sweepers paid to clean up after us simply cannot keep up with tide of litter dropped by inconsiderate people.

"People ignore bins that are only a few metres from them. We need to start to look at how we build an environment where littering doesn't happen, or if it does the person gets reprimanded."

Dr Ian Humphreys, chief executive at Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful, said we could save millions if people changed their behaviour.

"We lose an estimated £7m in coastal tourism alone due to the repellent nature of litter and we turn tourist businesses off because of litter," he said.

"We lose a £100m more through vandalism and graffiti. If we could convince people to change the way they behaved we could save millions of pounds every year."

Belfast Telegraph