Scottish Conservative Councillor Angus Forbes is calling for a nationwide clean-up to remove unsightly fly-tipping items that have been dumped during the Covid-19 crisis.
The politician, who is Convenor of Perth and Kinross Council’s Environment and Infrastructure Committee, would like the Scottish Government to set up a clean-up fund, with the money going to local authorities based on a distribution model agreed with COSLA.
Commenting, Councillor Forbes said: “I am delighted that pressure from the Scottish Conservatives has forced the Scottish Government to open recycling centres. Our communities have been calling for this since they saw recycling centres in England being re-opened.
“What we need now is a nationwide clean-up fund to remove the huge piles of fly tipping we see across the country. Whilst some of this is on public land a lot of it is on private land putting extra financial pressure on hard working farmers.”
And Scottish Conservative MSP Liz Smith, who represents the Mid Scotland and Fife region, added: “It was a relief to hear the First Minister announce on May 21 that recycling centres will re-open. This is something I have been pushing for and led me to recently write to the Environment Minister, Roseanna Cunningham, when I asked her to consider re-opening recycling centres due to a notable increase in fly-tipping across the country.
“I feel that the Scottish Government should set up necessary funding to enable a nationwide clean-up to take place. There was definitely a link between the spike in fly-tipping and the temporary closure of recycling facilities – now the Scottish Government have to look at measures required to help clean-up the mess left by fly-tipping.”