Keeping it clean ...and beautiful
Anti-litter drive helps charity
A clever experiment helped clean up Paisley’s streets and raise money for charity.
Keep Scotland Beautiful carried out a trial on behalf of Renfrewshire Council and global confectionary giant The Wrigley Company.
Over 15 weeks, experts from the national charity monitored the existing litter levels in the town centre before installing highly visible charity- branded bin wraps.
It then observed people to see if they would use the bins more often to benefit the charities.
The project was found to be a success, with a 16 per cent increase in litter collected.
Surveys in the area also found that 61 per cent of people felt that making bins more prominent would make people more likely to use them.
Derek Robertson, chief executive at Keep Scotland Beautiful, said: “We recently reported that local environmental quality throughout Scotland is deteriorating.
“We all have a shared responsibility to do more collectively and individually to protect our local environments.
“By focussing on preventing litter being dropped in the first instance this reduces the need to clean up a local area.
“This innovative project is a perfect example of how we can encourage more people to carefully consider their littering behaviour and make it easy for them to do the right thing.”
Three charities – Quarriers, Accord Hospice and Paisley Street Pastors – each received £200 for taking part in the experiment.
Alice Harper, chief executive of social care charity Quarriers, said: “Every day, our charity works with people who are facing a variety of challenges. Litter has a significant effect on people’s quality of life and a litter-free environment can help to make people feel safer.
“We welcome this kind donation and the opportunity to participate in the Paisley project. With this generous support, we are able to support more people in our local communities.”
Cheryl Adair, coordinator for Paisley Street Pastors, added: “It was great be invited to participate in the Litter Behaviour Analysis project in Paisley.
“Keep Beautiful Scotland is a trustworthy organisation that brings benefit to communities and we thank them for their input as we feel that achieving the Purple Flag award in Paisley was enhanced by the streets being cleaner and litter free.
“The way the organisation support local charities is admirable and Paisley Street Pastors want to say a massive thank you, firstly for including us and for your most generous donation to us of £200.”
Keep Scotland Beautiful is a national charity which campaigns, acts and educates on a range of local, national and global environmental issues to change behaviour and improve the quality of people’s lives and the places they care for.
Alexandra West, from The Wrigley Company, UK and Ireland, commented: “Wrigley was delighted to partner with Keep Scotland Beautiful on this project to explore how community rewards and visibility can influence people’s behaviour when it comes to disposing of their rubbish.
“This project is just one part of a wider programme of work we are undertaking on litter and littering behaviour, and the results from the Paisley project will inform our approach going forward.
“We were delighted that local charities also benefited from the study and would like to thank everyone that took part.”