Young people aim to change attitudes towards littering

Young people are bidding to drive a change in behaviour in the fight against litter.

The results of a survey in the Generation Change report, compiled by 16 school and university students and made available by Young Scot and Zero Waste Scotland, show just 27 per cent of the 650 youngsters surveyed claimed they never dropped litter, while 58 per cent admitted they littered accidentally.

A further 44 per cent said the number and placement of bins has no effect on whether they litter or not.

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The findings have been used by the group to produce a number of recommendations.

Ideas include introducing an app to show young people where the closest bins are, making bins more colourful and visible to encourage people to use them and using public art projects to highlight the community impact of littering.

Shannon Goundry, a Generation Change member, said: “I’m incredibly passionate about protecting our environment and reducing the amount of littering in Scotland. It’s been great to work alongside talented, like-minded young people from other parts of Scotland and we’re really proud of the work presented in the report.”

Louise Macdonald, chief executive of Young Scot, said: “The Generation Change group is passionate about making the world a greener place for everyone.

“This report is packed full of ideas and we’re sure it will help inform changing attitudes towards litter in Scotland.”

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