A campaign to raise awareness of roadside litter along the laybys and verges of the A1 was launched last week (Thursday 23 October) with staff and volunteers from various organisations coming together
Collective campaign to clean up A1
Our staff, members of the Berwickshire Anti-Litter Group and representatives from BEAR Scotland and Keep Scotland Beautiful came together to collectively tackle the issue – with 33 bags of litter collected from one layby alone.
The campaign, which is led by environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful in partnership with ourselves and East Lothian Council, supports the Scottish Government's National Litter and Flytipping Strategy and will see a tailored campaign for the Scottish Borders including billboards, posters and bin wraps. The aims of the campaign are to raise awareness of the litter issue and reduce litter generated by drivers on the A1.
In total, 35 bags of litter were collected across the day by all the volunteers and staff involved.
Support for communities tackling litter
To help support community litter picking events, the Council offer free hire of litter pick kits which include all the relevant equipment as well as free uplift of bagged litter.
Councillor Jenny Linehan, Executive Member for Environment & Transport
"Littering is a scourge on our local environment, negatively impacting the appearance of rural areas and posing a real danger to wildlife.
“A huge amount of time dedicated by the Council, other agencies and volunteers to clean up the mess made by lazy individuals and keep roadsides and other public areas tidy.
“The majority of residents and visitors travelling through the region take a lot of pride in the appearance of the local surroundings, however the actions of a minority mean litter picks like this one are required over and above regular picks by SBC Operational staff to try and keep on top of it as much as we can.
“The Keep Scotland Beautiful campaign will help tackle the root of the problem by encouraging behaviour change through a targeted marketing campaign and is an extremely positive step forward.
“If you are considering organising your own litter picking event or want to volunteer at similar event, I would encourage you to look at the SBC website where support including free litter picking kits is available.”
Barry Fisher, Chief Executive of Keep Scotland Beautiful
"Roadside litter is a huge problem: it damages Scotland’s reputation, it’s ugly, dangerous and expensive to clean up.
“We have campaigned to reduce roadside litter for years but it’s clear that more still needs to be done.
“The introduction of the littering from vehicles provision in the Circular Economy (Scotland) Act will be a useful tool to tackle roadside litter but it is critical we also address the root cause of roadside litter by rethinking our consumption habits and changing the behaviours that are our polluting our environment.
“The message is simple: bin your litter responsibly or take it home. There is no excuse for roadside litter.”