Green Dog Walkers
Green Dog Walkers is a non-confrontational, friendly way to change attitudes about dog fouling in the Falkirk area. Read more here...|
Fun and Games at Bonnybridge Eco Day
The "Make Bonnybridge Bonny" initiative got off to a flying start with the Eco Day held at the Community Centre on the 8th July.
Making magnets from
plastic bottles
About 40 children took part in a variety of activities; making fridge magnets from recycled materials, litter orienteering and the infamous space hopper-litter picking race. Enthusiastic teams of children and supervisors then cleared dozens of bags of cans, bottles, crisp packets and other litter from the community centre grounds, the Memorial Gardens and Wellplace Terrace Park.
The desire to keep Bonnybridge bonny was expressed by the children designing their own t-shirts – there were some very artistic and imaginative visions including depictions of local beauty spots and wildlife, tourist attractions and of course the famous Bonnybridge UFOs.
The day ended with a fun quiz about recycling – do you know how many minutes the energy saved by recycling a bottle power your computer for?
We hope to repeat the Eco Day again soon.
Helen Bang
Litter Strategy Survey Results
The results of the recent litter strategy survey have been compiled and can be viewed below:
WESTQUARTER Primary School and Community People Clean up the Glen! 10th of May 2008
In March 2008 Westquarter Primary School organised a whole school walk through Westquarter Glen, an area of outstanding natural beauty on their doorstep. Children invited their families to join them enjoy the sights and sounds of the Glen while Primary 5 led a guided walk.
Whilst there was much to admire there was also disappointment that there was so much litter and it was agreed to invite litter officers Hania Smith and Jennifer Milton to help us organise a community litter pick.
The litter pick was duly organised for Saturday 10th May 2008 and the people of Westquarter rose to the challenge. After a quick meeting in the school hall the assembled mums, dads, grandparents, children and friends took to the Glen armed with gloves, litter picks and bags to cheerfully tackle the problem and in under two hours cleared the area.
What a transformation! Gone were the assorted bottles, cans, crisp bags, cooker, video player and toilet!! to leave the Glen once more as an area of natural beauty for all the community to enjoy. Well done Westquarter! Forgot to mention the horse blanket and the lawn mower!
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BONNYBRIDGE Litter Pick
Saturday 17th of May 2008
Helen Bang organised this Litterpick, held on Saturday 17th May 2008 in Bonnybridge town centre.
She did a great job of getting us all together and many thanks to her and Falkirk Council who provided us with litterpicks, bags, gloves and those fetching yellow tabbards!!
Thanks to our councillor, Billy Buchanan who kept us energised throughout!
Goodbye cans, hello greenery!
A Bonnybridge eyesore was removed on Saturday 17th May when a group of local volunteers, joined by local councillor Billy Buchanan, cleared an area of waste ground by the bridge in the town centre.
Despite a rather damp morning, spirits were high and two dozen bags of cans, plastic bottles and other litter were bagged for collection by the council.
The tidyup attracted a lot of attention from shoppers at the nearby ScotMid store – hopefully at the next litter pick in the autumn there will be even more support.
Several other areas in Bonnybridge are in urgent need of a tidy up; the park, the canal towpath and the banks of the burn near the community centre for starters – if you'd like to help next time, or know of another eyesore which needs tackling, please contact Helen Bang on 01324 810328 or email her at: helen_d_bang@yahoo.co.uk|
Clean up at KINNEIL ESTATE in BO'NESS
Sunday 27th of April 2008
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Clean up squad
DOZENS of volunteers have helped clean-up Kinneil Estate in Bo'ness.
They took part in a weekend litter pick organised by Bo'ness Community Council, in conjunction with Bonnie Bo'ness and The Friends of Kinneil.
Around 100 bags of rubbish were collected during a two-hour stint in the historic parkland. More than 50 people - from toddlers to pensioners - took part in the event.
Local Councillor Adrian Mahoney, Falkirk Council's convener of environment and heritage, was one of the volunteers. He said: "It was great to see so many people turn up on a Sunday morning and help with the clean-up.
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Litter collected
"We collected lots of bottles and plastic bags. There was also building waste which had been dumped in the estate. All the volunteers worked very hard and should be really proud of their efforts. We counted around 100 bags of rubbish at the end of the event."
Councillor Mahoney praised community council chair Madelene Hunt for organising the event. "Madelene worked hard to get people to come along and I think she was delighted at the turn-out. The lovely spring weather helped too."
He added: "Parks like Kinneil are really important to local people and it's terrible to see litter being needlessly dumped in the estate. Not only is it unsightly - it also presents a real risk to local wildlife. I'd urge people
not to be 'dumb dumpers' and to take home their litter next time they visit the park."
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After the clean up
Sunday's clean-up was organised with the support of Falkirk Council's litter team. The local authority recently published a "Community Support Pack|" to encourage people to organise events. The publication provides lots of useful information to help people make a real difference in their communities, through clean-ups and other environmental projects. The pack includes case studies on existing groups - plus useful advice on setting up your own group and important things such as health and safety and insurance. You can download the guide here|.
Carronshore Primary School
Even the cows were
interested in the litter pick
Carronshore primary school took part in the national spring clean in April. The children are all in primary 3 and were doing this as an enterprise. The children were divided into groups of three. One to pick up the litter, one to hold the bag and the third child recorded what was picked up. They rotated the jobs as the afternoon went on so that they got a chance to do each thing. They all enjoyed cleaning up our local park and also the hedging between the school and the main road. They were amazed by the different things people dropped.
Bo'ness litter hero
My name is Thomas Mulholland and I live in Bo'ness with my Mummy and Daddy and my brother and sister, Matthew and Sarah.
We live opposite Douglas Park. It is not that far. It is just across the road and through a gap in the fence. It gets very messy and dirty in the park. Then one day when we were going to the playground, on the way we found a mushroom that was spiky and poisonous. I liked that very much. All round about the mushroom was glass bottles, metal cans, plastic bottles too. This made me feel sad because we had already cleaned the park up and people kept leaving more and more rubbish.
Sarah, Thomas and Matthew
Mulholland
We decided to clean it one more time. We waited until another day had come to do it then I went to get the grabbers from my school and we got some gloves too. We also got black bags that we put round rings. We hung them on the rings. We picked up 90 blue bottles this time. It was 20 more bottles than the last time. We recycled them because they were ruining the park. We took them to the blue bucket, like we did with the last 70 bottles.
I think we need to clean the park up every Sunday so that people can enjoy the weekend in the park because there are more bottles getting dumped.