Tourism staff do the miles in national litter picking campaign

July 12, 2021 | Scotland

Staff of VisitScotland undertook an Olympian effort to cover almost a thousand miles of Scotland as part of national litter pick campaign.

The national tourism body backed Keep Scotland Beautiful’s Clean Up Scotland campaign by encouraging its employees to pledge at least an hour of litter picking between 28 May and 20 June.

More than 170 staff stretching across the length and breadth of Scotland, from Dumfries to Shetland, St Andrews to Skye, including many from VisitScotland’s 26 iCentres, completed 280 hours of litter picking, equating to the equivalent of 840 miles.

It comes in the wake of the tourism body launching its Responsible Tourism campaign encouraging visitors to #RespectProtectEnjoy whilst visiting, with its focus on asking people to leave no trace and protect our landscapes.

Malcolm Roughead, chief executive of VisitScotland, said: ‘To maintain our stunning landscapes and countryside that we all love to visit, we must ensure we protect our natural environment by being responsible and respectful when visiting. Keep Scotland Beautiful’s Clean Up Scotland calls on residents to take pride in their local area, a sentiment shared by our staff across Scotland.

‘Earlier this year we launched a Responsible Tourism campaign which asks everyone to help keep Scotland special by looking after our natural landscape and leaving no trace of their visit. We’re proud to have taken that call to action a step further and had so many staff engaging in a litter pick as part of Clean Up Scotland.’

Staff of VisitScotland in St Andrews

Barry Fisher, CEO of Keep Scotland Beautiful, said: ‘I’d like to say a massive thank you to all those VisitScotland employees who rolled up their sleeves and played an active part in cleaning up Scotland for us all to enjoy this summer. VisitScotland continues to take a leadership role around sustainable tourism and this engagement from employees, right across the country, demonstrates a true commitment from the organisation.

‘Scotland is a stunning country and I have been inspired by the people who have collectively pledged over 1.5million minutes to litter pick during our Clean Up Scotland Summer Clean this year. At a time when we need clean outdoor spaces more than ever, it is important that we all now respect our country, its people and wildlife by binning our litter.’

For more on Clean Up Scotland go to https://www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/community-and-place/clean-up-scotland/summer-clean-2021/