Raising Awareness

Raising awareness and inspiring action are essential parts of the Upstream Battle to change littering behaviour and stop litter’s journey from source to sea.  We need to build a critical mass of voices saying that we want to stop litter getting into our waterways.

Anyone and everyone can get involved with Upstream Battle. Whether you live near a waterway or further inland there are practical actions that anyone can do. Help us spread the word. Reach out to community groups in your area who are already doing litter-based activities and check our Clean Up Scotland map to find local litter picks and find groups that are already active and participate in litter picking activities.

We have a range of resources to help you raise awareness in your community.  You can download the social cards and videos linked below to share with your community and supporters on your social media accounts, in your newsletters and blogs, on your noticeboards and at your events. 

You can use different platforms to increase interest in your Upstream Battle activities and our Communications Pack can help you get started with what to say.

If you want to go further, you can use our toolkit to help you take the Upstream Battle to your waterway.

There are a range of posters promoting the Upstream Battle messages for you to download* and use to promote your events or issues in your community. You can also find more posters on the Clean Up Scotland Handy Resources page, including editable posters to promote litter picking events. 

*Posters will be available for download shortly - please email upstreambattle@keepscotlandbeautiful.org if you need something straight away!

Ideas to help you use social media to raise awareness of source to sea litter:

• Right click on the social cards below to save them and share through your social media to promote your actions.
• Posting photos and or/ making reels documenting the day and the amount of litter, types of litter and any unusual finds collected can make engaging and informative content.
• Consistently sharing and re-sharing updates in the lead up to any event is a great reminder for people wanting to attend.
• Using relevant and trending hashtags on posts such as #UpstreamBattle and #Source2Sea, as well as others related to your community will help to promote your activity.
• It can be helpful to tag local authorities and public figures to increase interest. Influencers will already have a large following so can help reach new audiences that might have not previously known about the campaign.
• You can help raise awareness of the journey of marine litter from source to sea through sharing messages using short videos. See the videos below for inspiration, and if you are sharing online please use the hashtag #UpstreamBattle.
• Join the Upstream Battle Action Facebook group to see what action is happening across Scotland, connect and share what you are finding on your local waterway.
• Create your own local Facebook group to provide a place for people interested in joining the fight against marine litter in your area to congregate.

You can help raise awareness of marine litter's journey from source to sea through sharing videos of action in your local area.  Record a reel at your next event, or use the videos below for some inspiration.

If you are sharing videos online please use the hashtag #UpstreamBattle.

If you have seen other materials you are interested in, or have photos you want to share we would love to hear from you.

Email us at UpstreamBattle@KeepScotlandBeautiful.org