Group calls for action as litter crisis sweeps across Renfrewshire

Renfrewshire is facing a litter crisis as almost one in ten neighbourhoods are branded "badly littered".

- EDEL KENEALY

According to Keep Scotland Beautiful (KSB), 8.9 per cent of locations in the local authority area are badly littered.

The national environment body said it worked out the figure by looking at areas where there is either a "widespread distribution of litter with minor accumulations," or that are "heavily littered with significant accumulations".

Litter peaked during the covid pandemic with a "significant presence of litter" reaching 10 per cent nationally.

In 2020, bin strikes also added to the problem.

The issue is "significantly worse" in deprived areas, while litter was "more frequently observed" in urban areas, with 15.1 per cent of high density residential areas being badly littered, according to KSB's annual report into the issue.