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Tackling litter
26/11/2008
A summit to explore barriers and solutions to the problem of litter is being held in Edinburgh today.
Subjects for discussion include public attitudes, enforcement, support for voluntary initiatives, links between litter and recycling and the role of businesses.
The conference has been organised by Keep Scotland Beautiful and will also be attended by local authorities, community representatives, environmental organisations and the private sector.
It is being attended by Cabinet Secretary for the Environment Richard Lochhead and Environment Minister Michael Russell.
Mr Lochhead said:
"Scotland is one of the world's most scenic and beautiful countries and its beauty is an asset that should not be blighted.
"As part of moving Scotland towards becoming a zero waste society, the Scottish Government has put a significant amount of work into areas like recycling.
"However, litter remains an unsightly problem for urban areas, affecting quality of life and community morale. It is also a problem that costs money to deal with.
"Keep Scotland Beautiful (KSB) estimate that the annual cost to local authorities for street cleaning alone is around £100 million. Fifteen local authorities have spent over £3.5 million on litter enforcement activities for that same period.
"Clearly we all need to do more to reduce the amount of waste in the street, on our roads, on railways lines, in rivers and at other areas where it is an expensive nuisance. Today's summit is a first step in the right direction.
"We all have a role to play in ensuring Scotland becomes a cleaner, greener place and dealing with our waste responsibly is a huge part of that."
Mr Russell added:
"Litter is not merely unsightly, it costs our economy millions of pounds each year. There is obvious expense on cleaning it up, but there are hidden costs lurking too.
"For example a recent three hour M8 closure for flooding, with the cause being traced to a discarded drinks can stuck in a culvert.
"Latest figures show that litter is more of a concern to the public than issues such as noisy neighbours and vandalism, and all age groups of the Scottish population have admitted to droppinig litter.
"We would like to thank KSB for bringing together local authorities, environmentalists and the private sector and I hope that today's event will result in some good collaborative ideas."
John Summers OBE, Chief Executive of Keep Scotland Beautiful also said:
"We are delighted to have been able to assist Scottish Ministers in bringing together the key players for the first event of its kind in Scotland.
"With almost half the Scottish population admitting that they still drop litter, and the cost of cleaning up topping £100 million a year, the debate on the current litter issues affecting Scotland couldn't come at a better time - as we work towards a zero waste society.
"I have high hopes that this litter summit will give us, and the Scottish Government, a renewed focus on how to deal with the culture change that is required to stop people littering our beautiful country.
"Continuing to educate people, provide better services and issue fines are just three of the ways we would like to see the litter issue tackled across the country."
Figures on public attitudes are from the Scottish Households Survey 2007. Figures on littering in Scotland are from the Keep Scotland Beautiful report: 'Public attitudes to litter and littering in Scotland', Summer 2007.
KSB is one of Scotland's leading environmental charities, administering anti-litter campaigns under the Keep Scotland Tidy slogan along with the People and Places, Blue Flag and Eco Schools environment programmes, Waste Aware Scotland, Sustainable Scotland Network, Climate Challenge Fund and Going Carbon Neutral Stirling campaign.