Community litter-pickers are welcoming government proposals to completely ban the sale of nitrous oxide.

The small silver pellets, and more recently the large canisters, are regularly seen strewn around grass verges and in car parks around Greenhithe and surrounding areas, and are becoming an increasingly infuriating bug-bear for those community-spirited individuals who voluntarily clear the streets of litter.

Paul Plummer, who regularly litter-picks in the roads around his Greenhithe home, said: "I would be overjoyed if the sale of these gas canisters could either be placed under strict controls, or entirely banned.

"The little silver canisters are sold in boxes of around 20, and therefore wherever children or youths gather, the canisters can be found in large numbers. I recently came across three discarded boxes with more than 60 canisters by the Burger King in Stone.

"In the end I gave up trying to use the litter picker and crouched down and gathered them all up with my rubber-gloved hand. I stopped counting after 60."

He added: "The Greenhithe area is particularly litter-intensive, having ASDA, McDonalds, and a busy local transport interchange.

"Both those small silver gas canisters and, increasingly, the very large cans are found several times a week in every local car park They are especially environmentally unfriendly, being not only single-use and non-recyclable, but potentially dangerous to discard."

While a fellow litter-picker Ben King said he found 27 of the huge canisters on Alkerden Road, in Greenhithe. "They are so hard to litter pick as they weigh as much as a small fire extinguisher," he said.

"You can't just collect them in your bag and carry on going."

Nitrous oxide, or laughing gas at is known, is one of the most commonly used drugs among 16-24 year olds and the proposed ban is part of a drive by the government to clamp down on anti-social behaviour.

The Home Office has asked for the findings of a report into the harm caused to be delivered as soon as possible.

Side effects for heavy users can include dizziness and impaired memory, while inhaling directly from the large canisters can be fatal.

Legislation currently bans the reckless supply of the gas for inhalation but tighter restrictions could soon be put on all direct consumer sales.

Back in 2020 Labour MP for Canterbury and Whitstable Rosie Duffield urged the government to act quickly amid growing concern about the readiness with which the drug was available, claiming the situation had become "much, much worse during lockdown".

Speaking to KentOnline at the time she said: "Nitrous oxide is very cheap and seen – wrongly – as harmless, so young people often try it as their first drug."

At the time the government said it had no plans to tighten the laws.