Two Scottish cities in the top five for tidiness

Perth and Dundee have made it to the top five for the best fly-tipping rates in the UK.

Ahead of Earth Day on 22 April, one of the UK’s leading eco-lighting brands The Solar Centre has analysed data revealing the best and worst areas for fly-tipping and littering in the UK.

Littering is a common bugbear, with 30 per cent of UK residents perceiving it to be a problem. It is also costing UK taxpayers a hefty £682 million a year to clean up.

New data analysis shows the residents of two cities in Northern Ireland (Derry and Belfast) take the most pride in their local area’s appearance, with the lowest number of reports for littering in the UK. They are closely followed by Salisbury (9.75), Worcester (9.61) and Chelmsford (9.59).

When it comes to fly-tipping, cities in Scotland and Northern Ireland have the lowest rates, with Belfast seeing the least reports. Scotland has two entries into the top five with Perth in second position and Dundee in fifth.

Worcester (9.94) is the only city to represent England in the top five coming in at a respective joint-second place with Perth (9.94).

Brian Davenport, director of The Solar Centre, said: ‘It’s really positive to see Northern Ireland leading the way for both littering and fly-tipping, particularly with the work going on to clean up the region which saw an impressive 12 percent of transects become litter-free in 2017/18.

‘While Bath features at the bottom of both lists, it’s encouraging to see the area introduce litter-enforcement officers to crack-down on offenders and tackle its problem.

‘Hopefully, with the new fly-tipping penalties introduced in January, it should encourage UK householders to dispose of their waste responsibly, otherwise they could be faced with fines of up to £400.’

To see the full data set for each city, including how they rate for other eco-friendly categories, please visit The Solar Centre’s dedicated webpage HERE.