Dumfries and Galloway leads the way in campaign to remove rubbish from the environment

Dumfries and Galloway is leading the way nationally in a campaign to clean up rubbish from the environment.

As part of the overall Keep Scotland Beautiful drive, there is currently a Spring Clean initiative taking place in regions all across the country.

Over the past fortnight, hundreds of volunteers have signed up in Dumfries and Galloway to fill mountains of bin bags with waste from the streets and countryside.

Speaking at the council’s communities committee, Karen Brownlie, the council’s senior community assets manager, said: “By way of an update for members on the current Keep Scotland Beautiful campaign and Spring Clean initiative, we are two weeks into that four-week campaign.

“I’m delighted to say that, at the end of the second week, March 31, we had 79 registered events across the region which encompassed working with hundreds of volunteers.

“We’ve lifted 600 bags of rubbish within that two-week period.

“I’m also delighted to say that, currently, Dumfries and Galloway are at the top of the league table for local authorities in Scotland in relation to the Spring Clean campaign.”

The council’s Streetscene team – a grounds maintenance and street cleansing workforce – were praised for their efforts to keep the region clean and tidy.

Meanwhile, the communities committee heard that the council had recently received a delivery of 24 “smart bins”, which are powered by solar panels and compress litter as it is put in the bin.

The bins are linked digitally to an app which will inform the Streetscene team when they are needing emptied.

Nith Councillor John Campbell said: “I think it’s a good idea that we should take advantage of technology.

“I’m just wondering: would these type of bins be suitable for laybys on the trunk roads?

“Because we did make a decision to take the bins away, however people are still not taking their rubbish home with them – which is the message I’d like to get across.

“If these smart bins were implemented in places like that, would it be advantageous for the council?”

Karen Brownlie replied: “At this current time, we are trialling them.

“They’ve just arrived on site and we’re just putting them in rural locations within the Wigtown and Stewartry area initially to allow us to evaluate and analyse the uptake in them, and how effective they are within the communities.

“That’ll take us several months to analyse that information. Potentially going forward, laybys may be an option for the smart bins.”