Increased rubbish and waste leads to plea from local authorities in East Lothian

East Lothian Council urges residents to take their litter home

A plea has been issued to East Lothian residents after last week's good weather saw large amounts of rubbish and litter left in the county’s beauty spots.

This comes after canisters of ‘laughing gas’ were found at Longniddry along with empty cans and bottles.

East Lothian Council Countryside Rangers stated: “It’s great to see so many people enjoying the countryside responsibly.

Increased rubbish and waste leads to plea from local authorities

“Unfortunately, however, certain groups haven’t been as we’ve seen a large rise in the number of ‘party sites’ where they’ve left behind cans, bottles, broken glass and nitrous oxide canisters.

“For one of these ‘party sites’ at Longniddry it took one Ranger 3 hours to tidy up - 25 bags of litter in the end that completely filled his van.

“You’ve carried it in with you so please carry your litter home with you.”

The problem with extensive littering escalated across Edinburgh and the Lothians as residents enjoyed Scotland’s hottest day with highs of 27C.

The Meadows in Edinburgh drew widespread attention and condemnation as pictures of rubbish strewn across the grass hit social media, leading Edinburgh City Council Adam McVey to say: “Waste teams do a brilliant job & work really hard to keep our City clean.

“This isn’t about bin emptying, this crap was deliberately left by people in the middle of the park who thought it was someone else’s responsibility to clear up after them.

“It isn’t.”

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