Fife dad tackles river pollution and rubbish with clean-up project

Andrew Dunlop (26), has started the Clean-Up Cardenden Project after taking up magnet fishing as a hobby before realising that the river was in dire need of an extreme makeover.

Andrew, who lives with his fiancee Chloe and newborn daughter Eliza, said: “I decided to try my hand at magnet fishing - before I knew it I was pulling out bikes and all sorts of other rubbish!

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"After the bad floodingwe had here recently, the river is full of all sorts of debris as well as other things that people have thrown in over the years.

"I started behind the Premier shop where the flooding had brought down some trees, and have just continued working my way down pulling out what I can.

After pulling out a large steel grate from the river with his magnet, Andrew decided to get into the river to do the clean-up by hand.

"Pulling rusty metal with a magnet can be quite hard as it tends to slip off, so I bought myself a pair of waders and decided to get in and do it all by hand,” he said.

"I’ve maybe cleaned about 95 per cent of the river so far, but the flooding has shifted some large stones which has trapped some of the rubbish underneath that can be difficult to get to.

"The amount of rubbish that I have taken out of the river is unreal - countless bikes, traffic cones, car batteries, and even a car seat!"

Andrew has even created a Facebook page and YouTube channel to keep people up to date with his efforts.

"To begin with I didn’t think people were that interested in what I was doing until an older gentleman approached me one day at the river, and told me that people were really thankful for my efforts.

"I enjoy helping to make the town nicer for other people, and what's even better is a lot of wildlife has started to return to the areas that I have cleaned.”

If you would like to follow Andrew’s progress, please visit: Clean-Up Cardenden Project Facebook or Clean-Up Cardenden Project YouTube

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