supporting, developing and representing community groups,
voluntary organisations, social enterprises and volunteering
  • An estimated 15,000 plus bags of rubbish will be picked up this year in the Kingdom

    Created: 25/08/2021, Updated: 26/08/2021
    News/Events Category: General News


    Litter picking group, Fife Street Champions, has estimated that by the end of the year its members will have picked up more than 15,000 bags of rubbish across the Kingdom.

    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."

    "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 burn in Burntisland and a passer-by had remarked that it had been there for 30 years!”

    David further 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.”




    What now?
    See other news/events in the General News category
    Go to the main News page
    Tell us about your own news

Suggest an update/report an error/enquire about this page

News/Events Categories:

Children and Families (83 items)
Climate/Environment (9 items)
Community Events (3 items)
Consultations (8 items)
Employability (39 items)
Funding and Finance (32 items)
FVA News (2 items)
General News (15 items)
Goods, Donations and Services (2 items)
Governance (15 items)
Health and Social Care (73 items)
Job Vacancies (34 items)
Partnerships, Networks and Forums (32 items)
Technology (3 items)
Training and Learning (84 items)
Volunteering (30 items)


Go to the main News page

Share your news/events

It's free! Tell us about your event, news, training, vacancy etc. by completing a short form and we'll add it to our e-bulletins and website - accessed by thousands of people every month.


Sign up to our e-bulletins

Subscribe to our e-bulletins today to keep up-to-date with all of the latest news and events across Fife's Third Sector.

Sign up for e-bulletins now