Pencaitland Litter Pick 2013 Countdown: Day 4 — Fly Tipping

In the run up to Sunday we’re counting down to Pencaitland’s Annual Litter Pick with trash related factoids. Please come & be a part of the pick!

Did you know that it’s not just litter, dog fouling, graffiti, flytipping and flyposting, abandoned vehicles and other examples that people inflict upon our country. More than 62,000 incidences of flytipping – that’s dumping things like washing machines and sofas on our landscapes – were reported to local authorities last year. And it is estimated that around 5,000 cars are abandoned every year.

So far we’ve not found a car but there have been instances of fly-tipping on parts of the Pencaitland railway walk in the recent past. You can report fly tipping directly to East Lothian Council.

Come to your Litter Pick

As with past years the Litter Pick action kicks off from 2pm in Pencaitland’s Trevelyan Hall. Groups or families turning up will be given litter pickers and bags before heading off to various parts of, not only Pencaitland, but hopefully some of the other areas covered by the Community Council.

Why a Litter Pick?

Scotland has a litter problem. Take a look the next time you walk outside and you’ll be hard pushed to miss it. Cigarette butts, takeaway wrappers, crisp bags, cans and cartons, newspapers, ATM slips, chewing gum. You name it, and it’s on our streets and motorways, in our parks and our lochs, up our mountains, on our beaches and on your doorstep!

Our local Council does a pretty good job keeping on top of the bulk of our rubbish but the fact is that if we want to live in an attractive village it’s down to all of us to keep it that way. We can’t always rely on someone else to come along and clean up the mess for us. If each of us picks up just one item of rubbish blowing around our streets each day, it will help keep on top of a perennial problem.