Fordbank Primary School have been crowned Glasgow and Strathclyde champion in a litter picking competition for young people across Scotland.
Environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful’s Litter League, now in its second year, is an initiative aimed at getting children and young people more involved in the litter issue across the country.
The competition formed part of the charity’s annual #SpringCleanScotland challenge and 5,864 young people, supported by more than 1,000 adults, across primary and secondary schools, affiliated and unaffiliated youth groups, families and colleges took part.
In total those young people completed 185 clean ups across 30 local authority areas.
Fordbank Primary School scooped the prize after collecting 75 bags of litter.
All category winners received a #SpringCleanScotland trophy to keep for one year as part of our commitment to sustainability. All participants received a Litter League certificate to acknowledge and thank them for all their efforts.
Barry Fisher, Chief Executive at Keep Scotland Beautiful, said: “After such an amazing first year of our Litter League competition, I’m thrilled to see even more young people across Scotland getting involved this time around.
“We’re still finalising our total number for this year’s #SpringCleanScotland but we’ve comfortably surpassed 40,000, beating last year’s total of dedicated litter picking volunteers by more than 10,000, and the Litter League has proven once again that people of all ages are passionate about tackling Scotland’s litter emergency.
“Thanks to all the teachers and young people who got involved and made an effort and a huge congratulations to all our winners.”
Ailidh Campbell, Teacher and Eco-Committee Coordinator at Fordbank Primary School, said: “We’re delighted to win the Litter League for our litter picking efforts.
“With the help of Fordbank’s Eco Committee, I organised a whole school litter pick as part of the Litter League and Renfrewshire’s Big Spring Clean. All pupils and staff participated in the event across the course of the day and we collected an amazing amount of litter!
“Pupils were shocked by the amount of litter in the local community and one class even went back to school feeling so empowered that they spent the afternoon making posters on the subject of litter and dog poo.”
While the 2024 Spring Clean Scotland may be over, you can still help clean up Scotland. Why not organise a litter pick with friends, family, workmates or your wider community? Or find one to join in with on the charity’s Clean Up Scotland map: https://www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/community-and-place/clean-up-scotland/clean-up-scotland-map.