Litter and flytipping: scale and cost

4 Value of Volunteering to Clean Up Litter

4.1 Background and Context

Though litter and flytipping have wide-ranging impacts (such as the impact on tourism and investment discussed in Section 2.4), for the most part the impacts are felt by local residents whose environment and quality of life is adversely impacted by litter. Litter and flytipping are tangible issues with clear solutions. Though the statutory responsibility for clearing litter usually lies with the LA or the landowner, the scale and quantity of litter often renders comprehensive litter clearing an impossible task. It is unsurprising, therefore, that litter clearing is an activity frequently undertaken by volunteers.

One research question for this study was to assess and quantify the contribution of volunteers to litter clearing. It is intrinsically difficult to accurately place a value on the contribution of volunteers to clearing litter – any statistic is likely to be an underestimate, because litter picking will primarily be undertaken by informal and localised networks, such as schools, community groups and individuals, and therefore accurate data on hours spent clearing litter is sparse.

Eunomia engaged with numerous volunteer groups who undertake litter clearing for this research^[98], requesting quantitative data (where available) on volunteer hours spent and litter tonnages (and types) collected. The level of detail provided by the groups varied and hence anecdotal and pictorial evidence was also important in gathering qualitative data. Keep Scotland Beautiful, a charity working to improve Scotland’s local environment and who organise volunteer events, also contributed.

4.2 Results

4.2.1 Volunteer Hours

It is difficult to accurately ascertain the total hours spent by volunteers in Scotland clearing litter. Some litter clearing occurs through formally recognised events, such as the Spring Clean Scotland (organised by KSB annually) and KSB’s Community Clean Up Hubs events, and therefore the hours contributed are well-documented. Using data on registered litter picks from KSB, almost 60,000 hours were spent clearing litter by volunteers in 2019/20. This amounts to over £525,000 contributed by volunteers through their time.^[99]

However, this is likely to be an underestimate as, in addition to official events, this research identified from engagement with volunteering grounds that there is a significant contribution from smaller and localised volunteering efforts. Much litter clearing occurs on an ad hoc basis and, like much voluntary work, will be ‘under the radar’ and consequently not documented or quantified. Engagement with volunteers indicates that voluntary, informal litter clearing is done by community councils, local networks and groups focusing on a specific area (e.g., the Pentland Hills Litter Watch), in addition to individuals.

Using data collected from a sample of these networks, it appears that each of these groups (combined across its members) spends approximately 30 hours a week clearing litter from their area that are not included in official totals and events. It is impossible to know exactly how many groups are active across Scotland, but online research shows that every authority contains at least one network, and sometimes up to ten or more smaller, localised groups in one authority.

Assuming that there is an average of three groups active in each LA (based on the prevalence of identified groups per LA), volunteers contribute 124,800 undocumented hours of litter clearing every year which, when monetised using the minimum wage for over 25s from 2019, is equivalent to nearly £2 million.

4.2.2 Litter Collected

The informal nature of volunteering means that most groups do not collect data on the tonnage and composition of waste collected (though some volunteering networks do – the Marine Conservation Society encourages beach cleaners to track and submit the types of waste collected).

KSB stated that throughout the Spring Clean Scotland campaign and via the Community Clean Up Hubs, volunteers collected roughly 88,000 bags of litter (equivalent to approximately 580,000 kg) in 2019/20.^[100]

However, as with the quantification of volunteer hours, this sum is likely an underestimate, as volunteers contribute often undocumented time that is not part of official clearing events. The metrics calculated by KSB are that one person in 1 hour of clearing collects 1.5 bags, and each bag is roughly 6.6kg – using this, the tonnage of litter collected from the informal contribution of volunteers exceeds 187,000 bags (equivalent to approximately 1.2 million kg of litter).^[101]

4.2.3 Commentary

Engagement with a variety of volunteer groups throughout Scotland yielded numerous insights into the contribution of volunteers to litter clearing and how this effort is coordinated and funded.

Our stakeholder engagement found that these groups are not standardised in their format and in the frequency of their litter collections. Some groups and networks will cover an entire LA (such as Renfrewshire Team Up to Clean Up), whereas others are more localised (such as a particular stretch of countryside, or a specific village or town, e.g., the Leven Litter Pickers). Some have upwards of several thousand members whereas others are groups of 5 – 10 individuals. Some groups are registered with KSB whereas others prefer to informally organise litter picking on an ad-hoc basis.

The KSB-organised events (primarily the Spring Clean Scotland) are the focus for many volunteer groups. For other groups though, volunteering takes place throughout the year or sporadically depending on resident response. Some networks organise group events (with a secondary aim being to promote community cohesion and social activities) whereas in other groups, individuals and households clear independently on their own schedules. Stakeholders reported that the demographics of volunteer networks are varied, with families and children taking part alongside retirees. Most groups have a wide membership network with a core group of active members. Many volunteer efforts are coordinated via Facebook. Sometimes smaller groups coalesce to share resources and have a larger impact over a wider area.

Another insight is the relationship of the volunteering groups with their LA. In some instances, volunteering is organised independently of the LA, with oversight resting with charities or individuals. However, in other instances volunteering is organised or supported by the LA, with their explicit support. The ‘Team Up to Clean Up’ group was created by Renfrewshire Council, who fund equipment. Other volunteers emphasised their positive relationship with Fife Council who organise the collection of collected and bagged litter and provide labels so that litter pickers are not prosecuted for flytipping. Numerous Community Councils communicate with council officers to arrange collections of bagged litter. The relevant department within the LA varies but the responsibility for liaising with volunteers and collecting the waste often lies with the Street Scene personnel. Engagement with volunteers also demonstrated that there is a perception amongst many groups that council spending on services related to clearing (and enforcing) litter and flytipping has decreased in recent years and is insufficient to keep the environment clear.

Some volunteering groups receive funding from KSB and report their litter picking hours to them. KSB estimate that there are approximately 300 of these groups – some are Community Clean Up Hubs, others are Anchor Groups, and others are ‘Beautiful Scotland and It's Your Neighbourhood’ groups. KSB distributes a Community Clean Up Hub Kit, which allows for around 15 people to contribute towards a litter pick (this includes litter pickers, Handihoops, gloves, kit bags and high-visibility jackets). These packs cost £300 for KSB to source and distribute. Some LAs also provide similar equipment for volunteers to borrow at no cost (we do not have an approximate value of the cost to LAs). However, registering litter picking with KSB is not compulsory and it is clear that there are many local groups operating independently of this. It is likely that funding for these groups is sourced through local community grants, funded by local companies, or volunteers themselves (i.e., by purchasing their own equipment).

Volunteers stated that generally, the litter collected through volunteer efforts is not recycled. Usually, the focus is on clearing the litter from the local environment and it is quickest to ‘black bag’ all the litter for ease of collection by the LA. Some volunteers stated that, where possible, they would separate bottles and cans for recycling, but that the added effort to do so often deterred this from becoming a regular occurrence. Others stated that they do usually split out the waste for recycling where possible. This suggests that sorting and recycling of litter does occur but is not widespread. These practices will have implications for the environmental impacts of landfill and incineration compared to recycling, and the value of material lost to the circular economy.

Most stakeholders mentioned that their volunteering patterns changed during and following the COVID-19 pandemic. Though the initial ‘lockdowns’ led to a decrease in litter picking whilst movement was restricted, most reported that – once allowed – engagement with litter picking increased significantly. Several volunteer networks began in lockdown or have seen an increase in their membership, as more residents were staying locally whilst travel was limited. The Community Clean Hubs set up by KSB to form local networks for organising litter clearing began during the 2020 lockdowns and have since grown to 88 Hubs – the majority of these are within and surrounding Glasgow and Edinburgh, but there are also Hubs in Dumfries, Aberdeen, Fort William, the Outer Hebrides, Orkney and other locations.^[102] Several groups also stated that the increase in domestic holidays led to increased waste in their area from tourists, which led to increased interest in volunteering to clear litter. During the pandemic KSB published guidance to enable individuals to litter pick safely throughout the COVID-19 restrictions.

Several stakeholders expressed their general thoughts on the issues of litter and flytipping. These included the need for coordinated education and campaigning, combined with:

• Significant enforcement (including penalties);
• Greater coordination between SEPA and LAs to resolve flytipping sooner; and
• More proactive work to reduce the occurrence of littering, as opposed to reactionary clearing.

4.3 Summary

The contribution of volunteers to clearing litter is immense. Though it is difficult to accurately quantify the hours spent clearing litter by volunteers, as it is an informal and mostly unrecorded activity, this research suggests that volunteers spend over 280,000 hours a year clearing litter from their local areas, which is equivalent to over £2.5 million of equivalent resource to LAs undertaking this clearing. Collectively this totals the clearing of approximately 420,000 bags of litter, or 2.8 million kg. This includes records from official clearing events organised by Keep Scotland Beautiful, Community Clean Up Hubs and schools, and an estimate of unofficial litter clearing events by other local groups. These groups varied significantly in their number of members, area covered, frequency of clearing and how they worked with their LA.