Angus local named Clean Up Scotland Hero

On 20 November we presented Carnoustie resident, Rhona Hunter, with a Clean Up Scotland Hero award for her dedicated solo litter picking as a volunteer with ACE (Angus Clean Environments) through the Adopt-A-Street scheme in partnership with Angus Council.

A lifelong resident of Carnoustie, Rhona has litter picked for around two years. As a hairdresser, lockdown resulted in Rhona being unable to work. Walking around her local area she noticed a great deal of litter and wanted to do something about it. She has picked up a total of 63 and a half bags of rubbish! Rhona commented that she collected an abundance of poo bags collected on her litter picks, and encouraged dog owners to bin it.

Barry Fisher (our COE) presented Rhona's award, and as part of her award, she received a clean-up kit from the charity’s partner Helping Hand Environmental which includes a new litter picker, handi-hoop bag holder, gloves and high vis vest.
When receiving the award, Rhona voiced her concern on the effects of littering on our natural heritage. She also commented:

“I am pleased to have received this award. I do what I do because I don't like seeing litter damaging our ecosystem and our climate. We all need to change our ways, take responsibility for our actions and dispose of our litter in a bin."

Heather McLaughlin, our Campaigns Officer, said: “People such as Rhona, who give their time to cleaning up their local areas, are true heroes. Over the past decade we have seen a steady increase in the amount of litter across Scotland. However, despite the challenges we have all faced over the last 18 months we have been heartened by the increasing number of people like Rhona taking action to tackle litter across our beautiful country and keep it beautiful. I’d like to thank Rhona for her commitment to keeping Scotland beautiful.”

Lindsay Richmond-Kearns, Communities and Partnership Managers at Helping Hand Environmental said, “We have been proudly supporting the Hero of the Month Award since 2014 - over that time we have highlighted and rewarded almost 90 Scottish litter heroes with kits of sustainable litter picking equipment for their continuous efforts to Keep Scotland Beautiful. We would like to congratulation this month’s winner Rhona Hunter for her tremendous efforts and thank her whole heartily for all she has done to banish litter from her local community.”

Do you know a clean up hero in your own neighborhood like Rhona? Why not make a nomination to us.