Litter hit squads all set for big clean-up

South Lanarkshire Council launch their annual litterclearing campaign this week.

Teams will begin to tackle stretches across Hamilton as part of the council’s rural roads campaign which will also see areas in Rutherglen, Cambuslang, Clydesdale, Larkhall and East Kilbride being cleared in the coming weeks.

Councillor Robert Brown (Rutherglen South) the chair of the council’s community and enterprise resources committee said: “Every year, it is becoming increasingly more disappointing that so much time and money is quite literally wasted clearing up rubbish that could have and should have been disposed of responsibly.

“Our teams work hard throughout the year trying to keep our environment clear from dumped litter and rubbish.

“But given budget cuts and reduced resources to tackle this blight on our society, we need everyone in our communities to help the council with this ever-increasing problem that is caused by a minority of people who seem to think the rules don’t apply to them.

“So please, do not throw away rubbish. As our campaign says – it’s your place. Litter should always be put in litter bins, household bins or collected and taken to any of our recycling centres.

“Litter and rubbish costs public services time and money that could be better spent on other things. Neither the council nor local communities are prepared to tolerate this, and we aim to stamp it out.

“We take our role in changing that behaviour seriously, through a combination of education, awareness-raising and enforcement.

“But we also have a duty to make sure our communities are safe, clean, and welcoming. So, while we condemn the actions of an irresponsible few, we have to take this action to improve the environment.

“So, I apologise for any inconvenience caused during this year’s clean-up campaign and thank everyone in advance for their patience while we again carry out this time-consuming and expensive task.”

From Monday (March 4), hit squads will clear the following roads: Blantyre Farm Road/Calder Road, Sydes Brae, Newhouse Mill Road, Muttonhole Road and Carscallen Road. Time spent on each road will vary on the volume of litter, length of the road and the weather conditions on the day.

Once areas across Hamilton have been completed, the team will move on to rural roads across the Rutherglen and Cambuslang areas.

To make sure the workforce is safe during the clean-up programme, each road will have to be reduced to one lane at the sections being worked on between 9am and 3.30pm daily from Monday to Saturday each week.

Drivers are being urged to be prepared for any potential delays or consider alternative routes.