Apple Tree Nursery
Children at Apple Tree Nursery took to the shore to decrease the amount of unwanted rubbish on the beach.
They purchased litter pickers, gloves and brushes and began a campaign to reduce litter. Parents, children and staff gathered one Saturday morning and began a big clean up.
They had banners made asking visitors to dispose of their rubbish properly, and displayed these at the entrance to the beach.
They returned three months later with parents, staff and children ready to collect litter. When they weighed what they had collected they found there was a reduction in what was picked up by 12%.
During the first litter pick they collected a total of 23.8kg of litter, and the second litter pick resulted in 20.2kg.
They used grant funding to purchase litter pickers, brushes and gloves to allow a larger working party out as well as all weather banners to encourage volunteers to join them.
They also hoped that the banners would encourage their community to keep the beach clean and free from litter.
Keeping the community clean is something that Apple Tree Nursery continues to do as part of every day nursery life.
Each year the children clean the cenotaph in the local town before the Armistice Day parade each November to ensure that it is free from litter and that it is clean in order for them to lay a poppy wreath.
Apple Tree Nursery is located on the Isle of Bute, and children also participate in regular Beachwatch Clean events which sees children, parents, families and members of the community clean the beautiful shore lines.
They also take part in many nation wide cleans, including the Scottish Spring Clean, and armed with litter pickers they clean the street leading to the nursery making sure that there was no litter.
