CAMPAIGNERS fighting to clean up Inverclyde - named the country's dirtiest area - say that more needs to be done to tackle the industrial levels of flytipping and litter emergency.

The Literati Guide to Inverclyde set up six years ago mobilises hundreds of volunteers all year round to take part in community litter picks lifting 1190 kg of waste from the streets and shorelines.

It comes as data from the watchdogs Keep Scotland Beautiful shows 16.1 per cent of spots inspected showed an unacceptable level of litter and flytipping, which is much higher than the national average.


Inverclyde Council blamed the problems on the budget cuts which forced them to axe ten ground service posts but says that those left work hard to keep the town centres clean.

Environmental activist Stephen Henry said:"We work really closely with Keep Scotland Beautiful. It is really disappointing but we see so many people in Inverclyde taking action to clean up our community.

"It is a vicious cycle and it is complicated to break down but everyone needs to be involved.

"There is a link with deprivation and litter but I mean it cuts across all demographics.
"We have a litter emergency."

One of the group's biggest concerns is the levels of fly tipping by businesses. They have previously flagged up problems in Port Glasgow and Greenock.

Greenock Telegraph:
Stephen added: "These people are unscrupulous, it is not about the people of Inverclyde. It is what we can do about the fly tipping in our community.

 But we need all stakeholders involved to take action on fly tipping and  rubbish being dumped.

"This all ends up in our water and then on our beaches.  I was standing in Gourock looking down around Shore Street and it was awash with plastic everywhere."

Stephen Henry, a keen photographer, first started up the group six years ago after being appalled by the amount of rubbish left at beauty spots like Cloch Lighthouse.

Now they have dozens of litter picks groups, are involved in environmental campaigning and are about to set up yet another green enterprise.

He added: "There is so much positive action here in Inverclyde, look what we have achieved in six years. Our community has shown time and time again that we can come together and get things done. Look what we did with our community response during Covid. We just rolled up our sleeves and got on with it.


"But we need all stakeholders to play their part, our governments at Westminster, Holyrood and our local authorities.

"We have raised awareness of single use plastic and we are starting to see a real difference, a reduction. But we have a real problem that needs fixed."

The Keep Scotland Beautiful works with the authorities to carry out inspections and has an annual gold-standard comprehensive monitoring, called Local Environmental Audit and Management Systems or LEAMS.


An Inverclyde Council spokesman said: “Like all councils, we have had to make difficult savings decisions to help balance the budget and one of those decisions was to remove 10 full-time equivalent (FTE) members of staff from our grounds service, which deals with street cleaning.

“That being said, staff work incredibly hard day in, day out to keep streets clean and tidy, especially our town and village centres, and we provide support to various community groups who regularly carry out litter picks in their area.

“We have also introduced new equipment to deal with weeds and detritus on our pavements and we have invested in bird/animal proof litter bins which are being rolled out throughout the area to stop the litter being blown out and polluting our rivers.”