Kyleakin Environmental Group

LITTER PICKING

HELP TO KEEP

SCOTLAND

LITTER FREE

Litter Picking has restarted in Kyleakin and will be more frequent from the start of April when most businesses re-open, as will Beach Clean Ups.

If you are out taking exercise at any time, please dispose of your Litter in the Village Bins (including Dog Waste) or take it home for disposal. Thankyou.

It takes, on average, four and a half hours to walk the entire Village area on Litter Picking - but it isn't ALL done every day! Phew!

The areas covered are:

Skye Bridge to the Roundabout and Taste of India Restaurant;
Kyle House Brae
The Foreshore, Old Telescope and The Old Otter Pool;
Kyleakin Village Hall and environs;
Kyleside to the old CalMac Slipway and the Harbour Slipways;
Kyleakin Harbour & An t'Obbe
South Obbe, Village Bay & the Fisherman's Pier;
Castle Maol and Foreshore to Rubha Ard Treisnis
The War Memorial
Car Park, The Corran & the Boat Park
Olaf Road and intersecting roads;
Children's Play Parks

The Highland Council have been very helpful in the past by providing bin bags and gloves free of charge for Litter Picking but due to present financial constraints are unable to continue to do so.

KEG therefore obtain funding from various sources to enable our voluntary Village and environs Litter Picking to continue and we are indebted to those who have provided support.

KEG receive no funding from the local Community Council.

On average, in 2007, sixteen and a half bags of litter were picked up weekly during the Tourist Season (March - September) and at Christmas/New Year. This dwindled to about four bags a week at other times.

In 2008, KEG collected a total of 637 bags of litter during the course of the year, including the Harbour Clean-Up.

In 2009, KEG members collected 532 bags of litter, this figure excludes the Litter Pick-Ups in other areas.

In 2010, KEG members collected 345 bags of litter around Kyleakin, with a further 86 collected in other areas. The Recycling Bins certainly seem to working!

Throughout 2011 KEG Members & Volunteers picked up total of 330 Bags of Litter throughout Kyleakin & Other areas: 232 in Kyleakin and 98 in other areas:

# Heaste Viewpoint (Travellers) + 7

# Glenelg Foreshore: + 79

# Balmacara & Back Roads: + 4

# Knock Castle (Sleat): + 8

In 2012 KEG Members & Supporters colleccted 269 bags of Litter in and around Kyleakin with a further 133 bags as a result of Foreshore Clean Ups and de-Littering the back roads.

In 2013 there was a drastic rise in the amount of Litter being dropped, but it may also be attributed to Blue Bins being blown over on collection days! So we have 469 bags of Litter for Kyleakin, 53 in other areas and a whopping 738 bags of Dog Poo (March - December 2013).

In 2014 - totals are 392 bags for Kyleakin, 82 in other areas and 922 bags of Dog Poo!

In 2015 - totals are 412 bags of Litter for Kyleakin alone and 1,109 bags of Dog Poo - until the Pooper Scooper 'died' at the end of July! New Pooper Scooper now arrived - see 'Dear Diary'.

In 2016 - totals are 218 bags of Litter for Kyleakin alone, and 28 bags in other areas (26 bags from Uig Woods and 2 bags from Sligachan). 383 bags of Dog Poo were picked up in Kyleakin alone.

The 2017 totals can be seen at the start of the DEAR DIARY page. Since 11th June 2018 we have also been picking up Cigarette Ends - both filter tips and roll-ups and counting each individual 'find'.

In future all Litter totals for the previous year will appear at the start of the DEAR DIARY page for that year, ie 2017 totals will be on the 2018 DEAR DIARY page, and those of the previous year will appear here.

The main litter being dropped is Crisp Packets, Bus Tickets, Plastic Carrier Bags, Ear Buds, pieces of Rope & Twine, empty Cigarette Packets & Wrappers, Disposable Lighters, Pens, Plastic Bottles & Beer Glasses, Sweetie Wrappers, Ice Lolly Sticks, empty Ice Cream Cartons, Fast Food containers, empty Beer Cans & Drinks Cans ('Red Bull' cans mostly!) and Glass - broken or intact. There are also a considerable number of cigarette butts.

Flotsam (stuff washed up on the shore and into the Harbour) includes Baulks of Timber, Logs, Tree Roots, Wooden Pallets, Fish Boxes, Plastic Bags, Rubber Tyres, Wrapping Tape & Plastic, Oil Drums & Containers, dead fish and seabirds and the occasional cetacean.

An Annual Harbour Clean-Up is held in the Autumn, sadly in 2007 it had to be cancelled due to severely inclement weather. The 'Slipway' would have lived up to its name!

We are now involved in the Beachwatch campaign with the Marine Conservation Society and have 'adopted' the Beach area from Kyleakin Quarry to Rubha Ard Treisnis (with the full support of Fearann Eilean Iarmain, who own this area) and the tidal inlet of An t'Obbe, which is the Property of The Crown Estate.

KEG also carry out Clean Ups of areas within the Skye & Lochalsh area which have had problems of fly-tipping etc. For details of the last ones go to the DEAR DIARY page.

See the NEWS page for details of the next Clean-Up.

The following is from the Clean Up Scotland website:

20 reasons why you should put your litter in the bin:

1. Littering is illegal, when caught littering you can face an £80 fine.
2. Scotland spends £75 million a year dealing with litter and flytipping.
3. Tourism is worth over £4bn to the economy of Scotland.
4. It takes 10-20 years for one plastic bag to break down.
5. Litter can trap, suffocate, strangle and poison our wonderful wildlife.
6. Litter is unsightly and can be smelly and dirty.
7. Clearing litter from roads puts the lives of workers at risk.
8. Our planet does not have endless amounts of space for waste.
9. Heavy littering can lead to ‘broken window’ effect.
10. Littering affects current residents and future generations.
11. Broken glass can lacerate the paws of our pets.
12. It takes 450 years for a plastic bottle to break down.
13. Removing coastal litter costs Scotland approximately £1m a year.
14. The plastic used to hold beverage cans together can get wrapped around animals' necks and cause them to suffocate as they grow.
15. Litter can bring down the property value in your area.
16. Hazardous materials contained within litter can leach into water sources, contaminate soil and pollute the air.
17. Your littering does not keep someone in a job, if people stopped littering there would be more money and time for these wonderful people to keep Scotland beautiful rather than clean up after you.
18. Glass bottles take so long to degrade that the length of time is undetermined.
19. Littering is socially unacceptable.
20. The world only has one Scotland and we have a great responsibility to look after it.

We need people to stop. We need people to use bins, to take their litter home, and to recycle their waste. We need people to stop dropping litter across our country.