Argyll and Bute Council is supporting the Clean Up Scotland spring clean from independent environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful.

Scotland has a litter problem – around £75million of public money is spent each year addressing the problems of litter and fly tipping.

With tourism worth over £4billion to the Scottish economy, and scenery and landscape being given as the number one reason for visiting Scotland, the consequences of the mess are clear.

This spring clean campaign is a targeted focus on litter during the months of April and May, enabling businesses, schools, community groups and individuals to unite together in a common cause and clean up the whole of Scotland as part of a nationally coordinated campaign.

Argyll and Bute Council fully endorses this campaign and is encouraging people to join in.

A £50 fixed penalty notice can be issued for dropping litter.

You can take part by:

• Registering a clean-up in your local area with friends and family, work colleagues or your community group at www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/register
• Finding a clean-up event in your area to participate in on the ‘events’ page at www.cleanupscotland.com
• Taking the Clean Up Scotland pledge at www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/pledge

Policy Lead for Roads and Amenity Services, Councillor Ellen Morton, said, “We are delighted to join this national campaign and will be fully supporting it. We hope that by supporting this campaign we can make a real difference throughout Argyll and Bute’’

‘’We would encourage as many people as possible to sign the pledge and join the campaign.’’

The Clean Up Scotland campaign follows on from the council’s previous National Spring Clean initiatives with one important addition. Rather than simply focusing on litter, the campaign focuses on the ‘six evils’ of litter, dog fouling, flytipping, flyposting, graffiti and abandoned vehicles.

Argyll and Bute Council will support local groups organising events across the area – it will provide bin bags, uplift free of charge from clean-ups and lend litter picking equipment. To arrange, please call 01546 605514

Clean Up Scotland is a mass engagement campaign which aims to involve a million people in action against litter and mess ahead of a big year for Scotland in 2014. As well as The Homecoming, Scotland will host two of the biggest sporting events in the world – The Commonwealth Games and the Ryder Cup.

Keep Scotland Beautiful is Scotland’s leading force acting, campaigning and training others to clean up local environments and to change the behaviour which blights our urban and rural landscape.