Highland Council supports national anti-littering campaign

2nd April 2019

The Highland Council is supporting the 2019 Keep Scotland Beautiful Clean Up campaign and is encouraging as many communities, businesses, schools and individuals as possible to get involved in a local community clean up.

£53 million of public money is spent addressing litter and flytipping in Scotland each year. The 2019 Spring Clean Up campaign run by Keep Scotland Beautiful aims to help build community pride, educate and support people to transform the places that they live in and improving the areas that they care for.

Throughout April and May, Keep Scotland Beautiful and the Highland Council will be working with, residents, businesses, schools and community groups to arrange their own Clean Up events to remove rubbish from local streets, parks and public areas.

Chair of The Highland Council's Environment, Development and Infrastructure Committee, Councillor Allan Henderson said: "We are delighted to support this national campaign for volunteers to get involved to help to tackle the blight of litter in our communities. Not only is litter unsightly and bad for the environment but here is the Highlands it costs us over £2.8 million each year to clean it up - this is money that could otherwise be spent on enhancing local community facilities.

"Highland receives many thousands of visitors from around the world every year. We don't want littering to leave a negative impression on our towns, villages and scenic spots so the Council is pleased to work with Keep Scotland Beautiful and the many community volunteers to tackle this disgusting habit. A cleaner, greener Highland is good for us all; socially, environmentally, physically and financially so I urge people to get involved and support the Clean Up 2019 campaign. To find out how the Council can support your clean-up call 01349 886603."

Last year more than 30,000 people the length and breadth of Scotland participated in the annual Spring Clean Campaign - helping to remove more than 300 tonnes of litter - the equivalent of three blue whales or 50 elephants.

Anyone interested in finding out more on how they can organise and join a local Clean Up event should visit www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/springclean19

Derek Robertson, Chief Executive of Keep Scotland Beautiful, commented: “Keep Scotland Beautiful is calling for people across the country to take part in our annual Spring Clean campaign. Every April and May thousands of volunteers take to the streets and remove a significant amount of litter from their local communities.

“We are very proud of everyone’s hard work and hope that everyone will take part - helping to make 2019 the most successful Spring Clean campaign to date."