Scotland’s public spaces are getting cleaner, according to the latest and most detailed survey of litter. But the country’s streets, roads and squares are still filthier than before the pandemic. And experts stress our throwaway consumer culture - combined with ongoing challenges for public and private finances - means the nation is still facing a litter emergency.
The annual report by independent watchdogs Keep Scotland Beautiful or KSB shows 92.1% of thousands of inspected sites up and down the country were deemed “acceptable” in 2023-24. Read More: Why do some countries have lots of social housing and others very little? Where Scotland's MPs went to school, their previous jobs and are they local? Most Scots want 'polluter pays' litter levies for companies to clean up streets This means that last financial year nearly 8% of spots visited were unacceptably littered — with five or more items - compared with around 10% 12 months earlier.
Such national headline figures - from a benchmarking and inspection scheme called the Local Environmental Audit and Management System or LEAMS - only tell part of the story. The data also shows that only 27.9% of nearly 13,000 sites inspected were entirely litter free.
Nearly three quarters of Scotland, in other words, has some kind of litter, most frequently from what people have been eating, chewing or smoking. Barry Fisher, the chief executive of Keep Scotland Beautiful, was upbeat but realistic about the new figures. “Positivel.