A GREENOCK volunteer has been presented with a prestigious award for her work to stop plastic polluting the River Clyde.

Sally Clough received Clean Up Scotland's ‘hero of the month’ prize in recognition for her efforts to clean up the coastline.

She has been supporting environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful’s 'Upstream Battle' campaign along the Clyde, working with volunteers to monitor litter levels in the burns that run down to the river, like Lady Burn in the east end of the town.

She also arranged a recent community clean up event at Craigend Resource Centre, pictured, which attracted nearly 50 people.

Sally said: “I’ve lived in Inverclyde my whole life and it really is a wonderful community to be part of.

“It was a superb turnout on the day of the clear-up.

"It was great to see so many different sectors of society working together and enjoying the experience.

“We recovered over 40 bags of rubbish and many large items, including five children’s scooters from the single 100m stretch of water way.”

'Upstream Battle' ambassador Elaine Hopley, who holds the race record for solo female in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge 2016 and the Guinness World Record for fastest solo female in an open-class boat in 2017, presented Sally with her award.

She said: “We live in such a beautiful country and people like Sally lead the way in helping to care for our environment.

“Sally sets a fantastic example and I only hope that many more people follow suit."

Louise Broatch, campaign project assistant at Keep Scotland Beautiful, congratulated Sally on her efforts.

She said: “She has engaged with lots of people through the Upstream Battle campaign and helped to remove a significant amount of litter and waste from the local area.

“Thanks to Sally many more people are aware that a drinks bottle or crisp packet carelessly discarded on our streets has a fair chance of ending up in our rivers and polluting the ocean.

"We hope that many more people will consider their actions and help to look after our river, protecting our seas.”