Littering cyclists and joggers could be targeted after a new Government initiative to work out who is leaving waste behind in countryside.

Ministers are planning to pay a company to work out who is more likely to drop litter on the ground rather than put it in a bin.

They will also be tasked with identifying different types of litter which are binned or thrown onto the ground. The deadline for bids was last month.

There has also been increasing concern about rubbish such as energy gel pouches and wrappers left behind by cyclists in some areas of Britain as cycling’s popularity continues to boom.

The motivation underlying why people litter has long been controversial. In 2015 author David Sedaris suggested people littered because they were jealous that they did not live in beautiful parts of the country.

In tender documents, the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said the work will provide “an up to date assessment of composition and identifying in detail which litter items and brands are most likely to be: (i) dropped on the ground, (ii) go into a general public bin (and so into residual waste), (iii) go into a public recycling bin”.

The contract – titled “Research into Litter Composition, including Composition of Dropped Versus Binned Project” - is “to obtain, analyse and add value to data on litter composition, including composition of dropped versus binned litter, with data on brands of litteritems as well as litter type."