Dumfries and Galloway councillors will be asked to agree that the Council removes bins from laybys on some of the busiest roads in the region. At the Communities meeting on 5 December, Councillors will be asked to approve plans to take part in a Keep Scotland Beautiful campaign.
Keep Scotland Beautiful (KSB) is a charity that is committed to making Scotland clean, green and more sustainable. KSB launched their Roadside Litter Campaign in November 2016. The campaign aims to work with key partners to reduce roadside litter through awareness raising, behaviour change, improving the way that litter is managed and creating a positive impression of Scotland.
Dumfries and Galloway Council, through Community Assets, is the responsible Authority for the clearance of litter from trunk roads in the region. Economy, Environment and Infrastructure (EEI), through Enterprising Services, are responsible for servicing roadside litter bins.
The pilot will propose that the Council removes three or four trunk road layby bins in each area (Wigtown; Stewartry; Nithsdale; and Annandale and Eskdale) on our trunk Roads (A77, A75, A76) to trial the campaign. Bins will be removed within known hotspot or known problematic layby areas. Instead, signage will be put in place to encourage motorists to take the litter home with them.
Previous research has tended to suggest that litter builds up in areas where there are litter bins which are not serviced on a daily basis. This is because bins which reach capacity have litter placed beside them rather than carried forward for onward disposal. This waste is then spread by scavenger or weather action and becomes more problematic and expensive to clear. It is believed to be more likely that people will place litter beside a full bin than in an area where there is no bin.
If approved, the campaign will run from December until June next year.
Chair of the Communities committee, Andy Ferguson, said “I am optimistic that Councillors will be able to see the benefits of taking part in this KSB pilot. It is not about removing bins but it is a campaign that encourages a positive change in behaviour. Councillors will be provided with the analysis that demonstrates that this campaign has been successful in other regions where it has been piloted recently. I would like to think that a pilot that was run in Dumfries and Galloway would be able to deliver results that are just as successful, if not even better than those, following a pilot on our roads.
Vice Chair of the committee, John Martin, said “Roadside litter puts an unnecessary strain on our Council who are then tasked with cleaning it up. It is costly and dangerous to drivers and to our maintenance staff who have to pick it up next to vehicles driving at high speeds on our region’s trunk roads. It is also detrimental to the local environmental quality, tourism and the economy. I hope that by taking part in this pilot, we have an opportunity to try and change that, delivering more positive outcomes for all.”
