Hansard

Thank you, convener. I thank you and the committee for giving me the opportunity to speak in support of petition PE2121 on running a targeted roadside litter awareness campaign.

Like the convener, I welcome to the public gallery the petitioners, Carolyn Philip and Myra Watson, from Berwickshire anti-litter group. The group regularly co-ordinates litter picks throughout Berwickshire, including on the A1, which is one of the main tourist routes into Scotland. I also welcome around 30 other litter and gardening groups who are watching online. Members of the committee will be pleased to hear that groups from their own constituencies and regions, such as West Lothian litter pickers and Dundee litter pickers, are among those watching online.

We all know that volunteers such as Carolyn and Myra give up their free time to pick litter, out of the goodness of their hearts. They choose to do it with very little support from anyone, including the Scottish Government and cash-strapped local authorities.

Between March and April 2024, Keep Scotland Beautiful held its annual spring clean, in which 45,000 people from every local authority across Scotland took part in 3,564 registered litter picks. Those volunteers care deeply about the communities in which they live, and they recognise the importance of protecting Scotland’s biodiversity through maintaining the cleanliness of our environment.

Recent statistics reveal that just over four in five people in Scotland—82 per cent—agree that they want to see more efforts to prevent litter in their area. A similar figure—81 per cent—express a desire for increased action to clean up litter locally.

Carolyn Philip, the lead petitioner, has said that, for three years, she and others have been writing to councillors, Government ministers, BEAR Scotland and Transport Scotland. She says that their responses have been patronising, thanking them for their hard work but not providing any positive or constructive solutions that are enforceable.

Despite the Scottish Government publishing the national litter and fly-tipping strategy that the convener mentioned, the landscape of who is responsible for collecting roadside litter, enforcing penalties and raising awareness of the issue remains confused and scattered. Furthermore, the pace of action by the Scottish Government is glacial, meaning that the blight of litter continues to have a significant negative impact on communities and our environment.

Keep Scotland Beautiful admits that we have reached the point at which there is a litter emergency, and that, without increased coordination and attention, the current situation is unlikely to change.

I agree with Carolyn when she says that we need definitive action, not more talk. On that note, I will close by saying that I would like to add my full support to the aims of the petition, and I hope that the committee will give it due consideration.