Fighting Litter Around the UK: Dundee City Council

Fighting Litter Around the UK: Dundee City Council

Dundee City Council has joined forces with Zero Waste Scotland on a new initiative called ‘Take Pride in Your City,’ which aims to tackle littering, dog fouling, and fly-tipping, and encourage people to take pride in where they live. The focus of the campaign is on neighbourhoods, parks, sports pitches, the city centre, cemeteries, woodlands, schools, and the local Broughty Ferry beach

Every year, more than 15,000 tonnes of litter is discarded in Scotland and this impacts on the environment, the economy, and on residents. A huge £50 million is spent on clearing up litter and fly-tipping across the country and that’s why Dundee Council have joined in the fight against litter.

Here’s what Dundee City Council is doing to tackle the problem.

• It’s highlighting the good work done at local events, from tree planting to litter picks. The council asks groups to email them photos of their events and it adds them to a gallery aimed at inspiring others to get involved.
• It recruits volunteers to work on conservation, gardening, or other community projects.
• It supports local people or groups to organise and carry out their own clean up events. It provides advice, litter pickers, gloves, and bin bags, and will also arrange for any rubbish to be collected.
• It supports the Green Dog Walker scheme that aims to involve dog walkers in changing attitudes towards dog fouling.
• It encourages organisations and businesses in the city to get involved in the campaign and to develop a Litter Prevention Action Plan. Businesses and organisations can display litter prevention posters, follow Zero Waste Scotland and Dundee City Council on social media and promote their litter prevention messages, support the Take Pride in Your City campaign, store their waste correctly and make sure the exterior of their premises is free from litter.

Organisations that wish to take part will receive free expert advice, support, and tools to help them put together their Litter Prevention Action Plan.

Taking the litter problem into their own hands

There are lots of community groups, schools, businesses, and organisations doing great things to support the Take Pride in Your City campaign. There were at least 40 clean up events organised in the city by volunteers last year, and 20 of these took place during the Clean Up Scotland Spring Clean and Week of Action on Roadside Litter.

Dundee was also the first local authority to have a Community Litter Prevention Action Plan, which  businesses, organisations, the council, and community groups have contributed to.

Keeping Dundee beautiful

18 community groups participated in a community environmental improvement initiative called It’s Your Neighbourhood last year, which was managed by Keep Scotland Beautiful. Among the projects run by the groups, there were community allotments, after school wildlife and gardening groups, and Friends of parks groups. All of the groups received certificates from Keep Scotland Beautiful to acknowledge their hard work.

Their commitment to improving local communities has a positive knock-on effect too. It all contributes towards Dundee’s entry into the Beautiful Scotland awards, which looks at horticulture, environmental responsibility, and community participation in improving the local environment.

Dundee’s entry is dubbed ‘Bonnie Dundee’ and it won a Silver medal in 2018. Dundee was also awarded the Visit Scotland Award for Tourism for the city’s Slessor Gardens and Waterfront area. The ‘Broughty Ferry in Bloom’ entry won a Gold medal for the first time ever. It seems like, the city has a lot to celebrate.

If you live in Dundee and you’d like to get involved in the campaign and organise your own clean up, the council gives these tips:

• Decide on a date and location for your event. This could be a local park or beauty spot.
• Remember to ask permission from the council or whoever owns the land.
• Call the council on 01382 433141 to talk about your event and get advice.
• The event needs to be registered with Clean Up Scotland. Once you register you can get a free kit which includes stickers, posters, and more to advertise your event.
• You also need to do a risk assessment for the event (which the council can help you with.)

The council will:

• Provide equipment for your event and arrange to collect the rubbish.
• Give you plenty of safety advice for your event.
• Promote your event on its Take Pride in Your City website.

If you’d like to get involved in the fight against litter, click here.