Fife litter picking group predicts15,000 bags of rubbish collected this year

Last year, from January to December, the team collected 10,397 bags of rubbish in total, but the volunteers have surpassed that number in just seven months this year.

By the end of July, they had swept up over 11,000 bags.

With Scotland moving to beyond Level 0 late last month, the group fears that Fife’s rubbish problem will only get worse.

David Spence, who plays a major part within the group, said: “We have lifted more bags of waste in the last seven months than we did the whole of last year, and with five months of the year left we are expecting to have collected over 15,000 bags.

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"Last year the pandemic helped us, with lockdowns and many people being furloughed we had a lot more people helping out. With things returning to normal, the rubbish issue may get worse.

"As well as litter picking, our members also deal with bigger tasks such as river and beach clean-ups.

"An awful lot of what we have picked out has been there for decades - one of our volunteers retrieved a child’s buggy from the a burn in Burntisland and a passer-by had remarked that it had been there for 30 years!”

David, who recently won an award for his herculean efforts, urged people to dispose of their rubbish responsibly.

"I want to tell people, please take your litter home with you and dispose of it responsibly. If a bin is full, don’t just dump it there – and don’t throw rubbish from a car window.

"People are more inclined to litter an area if there is litter already there, so it’s a never ending cycle.

"There will always be new litter, but it is not unusual to find rubbish that is five or even ten years old.

"As long as we keep on top of it so the new litter doesn’t end up as old, we should be able to make a positive impact and to keep Fife litter free.”

For more information, or if you would like to join one of the many Fife Street Champion groups, please visit: Fife Street Champions.

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