Tackling litter and waste

Based on the data and evidence we collected from our surveys and audits and from public perceptions we declared a litter emergency in 2022.  Our latest Scottish Litter Survey, published in November 2024, continues to evidence this.  Additionally our interactive dashboard of data from across Scotland tells the same story.

Our work supports our ambition for Scotland to have a circular economy and be litter free.

We supported the development of the Scottish Government Marine Litter Strategy and Litter and Flytipping Strategy for Scotland and are committed to delivering action and inspiring behaviour change through a number of activities including our Upstream Battle campaign and our support the NLFS Action Plan.

We are continuing to find new ways to engage and inspire Scotland’s people and to work collaboratively to reverse the data trends and tackle the behaviours driving the litter crisis.

Looking forward there are significant policy and regulation measures being brought forward which could influence and drive behaviour change to reduce the number and type of items littered.  These include the introduction of a charge for single-use coffee cups, a Deposit Return Scheme (planned for 2027) and Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging regulations which have the potential to make producers responsible for single-use packaging that ends up as litter on the ground. 

We understand the indicators of local environmental quality, because for more than two decades, in partnership with Scotland’s local authorities, we have carried out audits using the Local Environmental Audit and Management System (LEAMS). The data is used to influence national and local policy, to target local cleansing activity and provides the evidence as interventions and campaigns are designed and evaluated.  We now have an interactive dashboard where you can search to find out what is happening in your own area.

Our Clean Up Scotland framework supports local authorities and communities in particular to take action on litter through clean ups, citizen science activity or by promoting campaign messages.

Spring Clean, our annual challenge, sees tens of thousands of people across the country roll up their sleeves to remove litter from their neighbourhoods.

Our award-winning Upstream Battle® campaign tackles litter’s journey from source to sea and we recently published the first report to capture riverine litter at both national and regional levels.

In 2022 we launched an innovative partnership with behaviour change app LitterLotto, offering financial rewards for binning litter, while our Litter League encourages young people to compete for clean-up glory.

We offer training to enforcement officers across Scotland, and have developed Litterate training suitable for communities and individuals to help people understand the challenges and identify appropriate solutions.

Tackling litter will lead to important, positive impacts on efforts to combat climate change and halt biodiversity loss.

We are a key delivery partner for the National Litter and Flytipping Strategy delivering significant action last year - including the development of the Community Litter Hub.  We are committed to pushing forward further action in line with the 2024/2005 Action Plan and we'd urge you to find our more about this and how you can get involved.

If you want to join us to tackle the litter emergency, for our environment, our wildlife, our health and our wellbeing, do reach out to us.