Fisherrow Sands sees beach visitors clean up their acts

A campaign by environmental charity, Keep Scotland Beautiful, that aimed to clean up Scotland’s beaches, has been dubbed a success following swathes of positive feedback and results.

The My Beach, Your Beach campaign which launched in mid-July at Fisherrow Sands, looked to help improve water quality at six of Scotland’s well-loved beaches through targeted interventions to change attitudes and behaviour.

It involved messaging that appeared on bins and lamppost signs encouraging people to dispose of waste responsibly.

As well as starting an online programme that focused on engaging people with their local beach through information, quizzes, photo galleries and even a virtual ‘Doggy Ambassador’ competition.

Paul Wallace, campaigns and innovation manager at Keep Scotland Beautiful, said: “This summer, our local neighbourhoods became even more precious to many of us. For those #LuckyToLiveHere by the beach, the unprecedented pressures of more people taking holidays and day trips in Scotland, consuming more single-use items and take-away food and using limited services, such as toilets and bins, were felt.

“We’re grateful to both council staff and members of the local community for working tirelessly to keep the beach clean for everyone to enjoy.”

Despite the success, 38 percent of people still think that dog poo is an issue and 26 percent believe that litter is also a problem at Fisherrow Sands.

But 66 percent of those surveyed in the area have said they are willing to pick up litter when visiting the beach in order to leave it cleaner than they found it.

And last year, the project saw a 56 percent reduction in litter and a 62 percent reduction in dog poo at Fisherrow Sands, as compared to the previous year.

The successful campaign raised awareness of the potential impact on bathing water quality by dog fouling and encouraging gulls by feeding and leaving litter.

East Lothian council’s environment spokesperson, Cllr Norman Hampshire, said: “Although visitor numbers have been higher than usual this year, particularly during good spells of weather, we have seen a renewed respect for the environment with visitors disposing of their litter responsibly and cleaning up after their dog.”

Find out more about Fisherrow Sands by visiting its campaign web page.

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