Latest news with #SpringCleanScotland
Daily Record
6 days ago
- General
- Daily Record
School and scouts group in West Lothian amongst those recognised for efforts to clean-up Scotland
Almost 6,000 people took part in events across the local authority area Litter picking groups in West Lothian have been recognised for their heroic efforts during this year's Spring Clean Scotland. The collective effort saw almost 50,000 bags – a massive 325 tonnes – of litter picked throughout the campaign across the country. Organised by environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful, Spring Clean Scotland is the country's largest coordinated mass litter picking activity and takes place over four weeks from March 21 to April 21. Over 33,000 people – including 18,000 young people – took part in one of 2,600 events covering every local authority area in Scotland. The Litter League, a competition for young people to get involved and compete for clean-up glory, returned for a third year and National award was won by B-Dale Explorer Scouts in West Lothian. West Lothian Litter Pickers were recognised with a Spring Clean Scotland Heroes award for their efforts throughout the campaign, with 449 litter picks collecting 2,162 bags of litter. Becky Gallagher from West Lothian Litter Pickers said: 'West Lothian Litter Pickers and West Lothian Council worked hard together to produce our most successful Spring Clean yet. We had approximately 445 events with 5,858 people who gave up their time to raise awareness and clean up their community and environment. "As well as our amazing WLLP members, we saw lots of schools, clubs and businesses take part. The environmental impact of the Spring Clean was visually noticeable and we can only hope that it has made an educational impact on people's behaviour with regards to littering and fly-tipping.' The Litter League, a competition for young people to get involved and compete for clean-up glory, returned for a third year and National award was won by B-Dale Explorer Scouts in Bathgate Arlene Davies, B-Dale Leadership Team Member, said: 'We are delighted to win the National award this year. It is heartening to see our young people being recognised for their hard work and volunteering. As a unit B-Dale decided to work towards the Scout Community Impact badge identifying that West Lothian has a litter issue. "With the support of West Lothian Litter Pickers and West Lothian Council our young people have managed to make a huge difference to our local areas. This is our first year as part of the Litter League and we hope our success encourages other Scout groups to take part in the future.' Falla Hill Primary School in Fauldhouse were the winners of the Litter League Edinburgh and Lothians award, with 190 pupils taking part in a school litter pick and collecting 50 bags of litter. Martin McCusker, Headteacher at Falla Hill Primary School, said: 'Under the drive and leadership of Ms Thomson and our Eco-Schools leadership group we have always been committed and dedicated to keeping our playground and community as litter free as possible. We are very proud that this year on year hard work has been recognised.'
Daily Record
06-06-2025
- General
- Daily Record
Dalbeattie Primary pupils clean up in Spring Clean Scotland competition
The youngsters were the winners of the Litter League Scotland South after collecting 37 bags of rubbish. Dalbeattie Primary pupils have cleaned up in a competition. The youngsters were the winners of the Litter League Scotland South, part of this year's Spring Clean Scotland campaign. Over the course of a month, 23 pupils collected 37 bags of litter, meaning the school came top of the Keep Scotland Beautiful campaign. Depute head teacher, Alex Howie, said: 'We are really proud of our families and their young people in Dalbeattie who gave up their own time to make this possible. 'Everyone who took part did a great job seeking out the areas which most needed tidied. In particular we would also like to mention the help of Dalbeattie Scouts, The Rotakids and the Rotary Club, along with our eco committee. 'This is the icing on the cake of our recent ninth Eco flag award.' Across Scotland, nearly 50,000 bags of litter were picked up during Spring Clean Scotland, which ran from March 21 to April 21. And Dumfries and Galloway Council's Darren Burns was recognised for his efforts with a #SpringCleanScotland Heroes award. Chair of the council's education, skills and community wellbeing committee, Councillor Maureen Johnstone, said: 'I'm delighted that our council provides local co-ordination the national Keep Scotland Beautiful Spring Clean campaign. 'Once again one of our schools has won the Litter League award for the Scotland South region, so I extend a huge congratulations to the pupils, staff and community of Dalbeattie Primary School. 'I am further delighted that our lead officer for the Spring Clean campaign in Dumfries and Galloway, Darren Burns, has received the Keep Scotland Beautiful Spring Clean Scotland Hero Award for his significant contribution the Spring Clean campaign. 'For the past three years, Darren has co-ordinated the Spring Clean campaign, with invaluable support from our council's community assets, community safety, environmental health, ward working and youth work teams. 'However, we all know that the real success of the campaign lies with the thousands of dedicated volunteers who take part each year, cleaning up our pavements, parks, beaches and beyond. This year alone, we hosted 424 events with 9,476 volunteers collecting 1,315 bags of rubbish. We provided litter-picking kits and ensured every bag was collected by our community assets team. 'The volunteers' commitment to keeping our communities clean and beautiful is nothing short of inspiring. My heartfelt thanks go to each and every one of them.' Chief Executive at Keep Scotland Beautiful added: 'We know there is a litter emergency in Scotland, but we also know there are people in every community across the country who are determined to take action and deal with the issue. 'Spring Clean Scotland gives us an opportunity to spearhead a collective effort to make a noticeable difference, inspiring as many people as possible to help clean up Scotland and we thank Darren for his brilliant efforts. 'I'm so impressed to see that more than half of our volunteers this year were young people. It's so inspiring to see the younger generation already taking notice and action of the litter issue in their communities. Congratulations to Dalbeattie Primary School for their Litter League win.'
Daily Record
04-06-2025
- General
- Daily Record
Airdrie school tops Spring Clean Scotland's Litter League for third year in a row
Hilltop Primary School in Airdrie were the winners of the Glasgow and Strathclyde award, with 24 pupils collecting 58 bags of litter. Tidy and triumphant Airdrie schoolchildren came out on top of a litter-picking initiative - for a third year in a row. Almost 50,000 bags of litter were picked during this year's Spring Clean Scotland as people across the country rolled up their sleeves to tackle the litter emergency. Organised by environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful, Spring Clean Scotland is the country's largest co-ordinated mass litter picking activity. Taking place over four weeks, more than 33,000 people - including 18,000 young people - took part in one of 2600 events covering every local authority area in Scotland. Hilltop Primary School in Airdrie were the winners of the Litter League Glasgow and Strathclyde award, with 24 pupils collecting 58 bags of litter. The Litter League, a competition for young people to get involved and compete for clean-up glory, returned for a third year and the national award was won by B-Dale Explorer Scouts in West Lothian. Laura Drummond from Hilltop Primary School said: "Hilltop Primary are delighted, once again, to be recognised for their efforts in keeping the local community and school grounds litter free. "P7a worked hard during the Spring Clean and cleared 58 bags of rubbish. "They are delighted and proud of the award, as it marks Hilltop's win for three years a row." Barry Fisher, chief executive at Keep Scotland Beautiful, said: "We know there is a litter emergency in Scotland, but we also know there are people in every community across the country who are determined to take action and deal with the issue. "Spring Clean Scotland gives us an opportunity to spearhead a collective effort to make a noticeable difference, inspiring as many people as possible to help clean up Scotland. 'I'm so impressed to see that more than half of our volunteers this year were young people. "It's so inspiring to see the younger generation already taking notice and action of the litter issue in their communities. "Congratulations to Hilltop Primary School for their win. 'A huge part of Spring Clean is recognising those who have taken part, told us about their activities and helped us understand the depth of the problem we're facing. "But we also know that there are thousands more who don't share their efforts and have made litter picking part of their daily life. "To everyone who has played a part, however big or small, thank you for keeping Scotland beautiful." *Don't miss the latest headlines from around Lanarkshire. Sign up to our newsletters here.
