As part of its commitment to supporting local communities to tackle local litter issues, environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful is creating 20 new litter picking hubs across Scotland by providing free litter picking equipment that will be available for individuals and groups to borrow, following strict social distancing and safety guidance.
In Edinburgh, the Sustainability Committee at the Western General Hospital will receive a kit, making the group the first hub in the Edinburgh area.
You can contact the local hub by email at ECRF.sustainability@ed.ac.uk
The 20 community groups from across the country are the second collection of litter picking hubs established in Scotland, following eleven created last month.
Through these hubs, Keep Scotland Beautiful is striving to empower communities who are frustrated by litter which worsened during lockdown and over the summer.
Polling commissioned by Keep Scotland Beautiful in June shows that 30% of people think that litter has got worse in their local area during lockdown.
Barry Fisher, Chief Executive at Keep Scotland Beautiful, commented: “During lockdown, many of us spent time enjoying our local parks and green spaces.
“Lockdown showed us how important these areas are to our health and well-being. Unfortunately, a minority of people have behaved in an irresponsible and selfish manner, dropping their rubbish, leaving it for others to clean up and spoiling our beautiful country.
By using the litter picking hubs, people will be able to tackle litter in the areas they care about and help Clean Up Scotland.”
The funding for these Helping Hands litter kits has been provided by Zero Waste Scotland, and will see kits containing ten litter pickers, gloves, bag hoops and hi vis vests to allow people to take part in either individual or two household litter picks.
The community groups will also be able to access posters and social media content to help encourage people to look after their local places and keep Scotland beautiful.
Iain Gulland, Chief Executive of Zero Waste Scotland, said: “Litter has no place in a circular economy. Discarding resources like plastic, metal and glass not only blights our communities, it also wastes valuable materials that should be being kept in use for as long as possible.
“Whether it has been our local streets, parks, woodland, countryside or coastline, recent months have highlighted how valuable our environment is to so many of us and why it needs to be kept that way.
“It is a shame these are needed, but the litter picking hubs will give communities the opportunity to tackle the nuisance of litter and ensure the areas they love can continue to look their best.”
Further detail of these hubs can be found here on the Clean Up Scotland website: https://www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/local-environmental-quality/clean-up-scotland/clean-up-scotland-map/