We’re down to the final week of #SpringCleanScotland and we want to capture all of your brilliant efforts!
If you register your litter pick before midnight on Friday 24 April you’ll be in with a chance of winning one of four £100 Helping Hand Environmental vouchers!
We have one voucher for uniformed groups, one voucher for sports clubs and/or organisations, and two further vouchers for any group or individual who registers their pick. All previous registrations also count towards the prize draw.
Have you taken part in a litter pick recently?
Enter your event’s details on our website for a chance to win a #SpringCleanScotland prize!
Recycling takeaway cups in Edinburgh is now easier thanks to a collaborative scheme Keep Scotland Beautiful has launched with the National Cup Recycling Scheme and City of Edinburgh Council.
Dedicated cup bins will be deployed on Market Street, Waverley Bridge and outside Haymarket Station to collect single-use cups in a new trial to test the effectiveness of on-street cup recycling and see if it is possible to boost the number of cups being recycled in Scotland – currently 4% – and prevent them from ending up as litter or in landfill.
Furthermore, the partners have teamed up with retailers including Costa Coffee, Caffe Nero, Greggs and McDonald’s to launch Take It Back in Edinburgh.
This is the first time our Cup Movement campaign has taken place in Edinburgh and will build on the previous success and learnings of trials in Glasgow and Dundee.
More than 30 stores in Edinburgh are participating in Take It Back, allowing customers to take a single-use cup back to any of the above retailers to be recycled.
Heather McLaughlin, Keep Scotland Beautiful’s Campaigns Manager, said: “Single-use cups make up a huge percentage of the items polluting Scotland’s environment.
“The reality is that these single-use products are already ending up as litter. We need to address our over consumption of single-use products and make an effort to choose reusable options.
“However, we know that reuse is not always possible or practical. This scheme will make it easier for people who use single-use cups to ensure they are recycled properly.”
Hannah Osman, National Cup Recycling Manager at Valpak Ltd, said: “Transport hubs are some of the highest footfall locations in Scotland, and we know from our data that a significant volume of single-use cups are consumed on the go.
“By targeting key commuter routes, this trial allows us to test how dedicated infrastructure in the right locations can capture more material and significantly increase recycling rates.
“Through this partnership, we’re using real-time data and evidence from previous trials to understand what works, measure contamination levels, track capture rates, and build a scalable model for on-street cup recycling.
“The goal is simple: make cup recycling visible, convenient and data-driven so it can be rolled out effectively across other cities in Scotland and beyond.”
Cllr Stephen Jenkinson, City of Edinburgh Council’s Environment Convener, said: “Increasing recycling rates in the city is one of our key priorities.
“It’s important we support targeted projects like this to make it easier for people to dispose of takeaway cups, which have become so popular in recent years and the prominent locations of these three new dedicated bins will hopefully do that.
“I’d also always encourage residents and visitors buying a regular cuppa to wherever possible take their own cup into takeaway stores to cut down on the need to use the disposable ones at all.”
Typical single-use hot drink cups cannot go into standard recycling bins or be recycled at home. To avoid cups ending up in landfill, it is really important to #TakeItBack. So, even if you forget your reusable cup, you can still help reduce the negative environmental impact of single-use cups if you #TakeItBack.
Tickets are now available to purchase for our June Nature and Biodiversity training course
This training provides carefully curated content to help upskill people, groups and communities so they have the knowledge required to successfully respond to the nature and biodiversity crisis, including:
– Learn how culture, infrastructure, and the systems we rely on benefit from a rich natural world.
– Learn about the pressures impacting nature and why biodiversity continues to experience a global decline that is echoed here in Scotland.
– Be inspired by case studies of organisations and actions that are making a positive difference and celebrate the range of habitats across Scotland.
– Reflect on what impact you, your organisation or your community can have to help nature recover and the co-benefits of this.
#SpringCleanScotland 2026 will be held between 13 March and 24 April
Spring Clean Scotlandis our annual campaign which brings together people from across Scotland to tackle litter. During this month-long campaign, thousands of volunteers spend time outdoors cleaning up the environment through sociable, fun, litter picking sessions.
We are looking for funding and support. Please get in touch if you can support our charity and help us deliver one of the biggest mass litter picking activities in Scotland.
Each year we release bespoke posters and social cards with dates of our #SpringCleanScotland campaign to promote local activities, check out our Handy Resources page for these.
We have also included an editable poster for you to share all the details of events with your community.
Keep Scotland Beautiful has now passed 9,000 registrations. Can we make it to 10,000 before Friday? Remember every registration before then is a chance to win a £100 One4All gift card!
Entries are now open for this year’s Pocket Garden competition!
We’re celebrating the competition’s 10th anniversary this year and the theme is ‘fresh water’. As a country with more than 125,000 km of rivers and streams (that’s enough to go round the Earth three times!) and over 30,000 freshwater lochs, we think it’s a very fitting 10th anniversary theme.
Designs must be submitted no later than Friday 20 February 2026.
Our nature & biodiversity training takes place next month
The new, certified nature and biodiversity training course will help you understand and re-connect with the natural systems, wildlife and plants that support Scotland to flourish in so many different ways.
You will understand the value of nature and biodiversity, reasons behind its decline and how to support the recovery of habitats which will benefit planet and people.
The February course takes place online and is available to book now:
We’re evaluating all of the brilliant data you submitted in 2025 and wanted to say thanks by highlighting the 5 ways you’ve already helped us tackle the litter emergency.
On Tuesday we have an amazing story time for early years to P3 with author Allison Galbraith. Thursday includes a brilliant lesson in #Gaelic. We round off the week with an all ages assembly.
All lessons include a follow up activity and there is an overall activity for the week to make a place for nature with prizes to be won.
KEEP Scotland Beautiful have been awarded more than £900,000 by The National Lottery Heritage Fund to support communities across Scotland to explore, record, protect and celebrate their heritage and plan for future impacts, including climate change, through Our Heritage, Our Future.
Communities provide vital support and ongoing care and protection of our local historic buildings, monuments, places and traditions. Through community action planning and skills development, Our Heritage, Our Future aims to expand the audience engaging with our historic environment, support community awareness and understanding of the threats facing our heritage and inspire action.
Working closely with local organisations, we are establishing local heritage hubs across the country as a base for engagement activities guiding communities to identify the heritage that matters to them and how it could be looked after in the years to come.
Katie O’Donnell, our Communities Manager, said: “The £962,750 grant provided by The National Lottery Heritage Fund is key to driving forward work to inspire community heritage and climate action, and widening engagement with heritage across the country.
“The Our Heritage, Our Future project team can work with your community to help to develop a range of heritage skills such as creating guided tours, planning a pop-up museum, carrying out historical research and recording the historic environment. Through these activities you can work towards obtaining a formal qualification or take part just for fun – so we’d love to hear from you if you want to get involved!
“Through the project, local communities can not only celebrate and protect their past, but they can also recognise the value of their historic assets today, including opportunities for job creation, carbon reduction, energy and waste minimisation, improved mental wellbeing, and creating community cohesion and pride of place.”
In 2023 a Heritage Fund Development Phase grant of £198,165, alongside funding from Historic Environment Scotland, enabled us to lead community heritage engagement activity with a total of eight communities across Scotland including community heritage climate action planning, training in delivering guided tours, and developing a new Heritage topic for Eco-Schools Scotland.
These activities have formed the blueprint for the newly awarded Delivery Phase funding, with ongoing financial support from Historic Environment Scotland.
Caroline Clark, The National Lottery Heritage Fund Director for Scotland,said: “We are delighted that thanks to National Lottery players we are supporting Our Heritage, Our Future to be delivered in communities throughout Scotland.
“With our significant support Keep Scotland Beautiful will help people work together to identify and understand the risks facing their local heritage. It will deliver lasting impact equipping communities with the knowledge and skills to care for and share that heritage.”
Our Heritage, Our Future has been made possible with support from Historic Environment Scotland and The National Lottery Heritage Fund, with thanks to National Lottery Players.
The project supports the ambitions of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, with a focus on Quality Education, Gender Equality and Sustainable Cities and Communities.
The funding will support communities across Scotland to explore, record, protect and celebrate their heritage and plan for future impacts, including climate change.
