Adopt a Bonnie Banks Bin Scheme Success
The imaginative Adopt a Bonnie Banks Bin Scheme introduced earlier this year as a follow on from the pilot A82 Loch Lomondside layby litter bin scheme in summer 2021 has proved to be a great success and is being continued on a year-round basis.
The 20-bin scheme is being coordinated by the Friends but enjoys the financial backing of nine local tourism businesses, Luss Estates, the National Park Authority, Argyll & Bute Council
and ENVA, the waste disposal and recycling partner. It includes twice weekly uplifts during busy holiday periods and once weekly collections at quieter times. This, along with regular additional litter and fly-tipping clearance work by Argyll & Bute Council’s local Community Service team and ‘Staycation’ warden as well as National Park and Luss Estates staff efforts around the busier loch shore camping areas and laybys, has helped keep verges and lay-bys along the busy 13-mile tourist corridor between Arden and Tarbet looking their best.
To cope with extra pressure at three of the busier southbound laybys, three bins were relocated to double up provision there. According to Friends Vice-Chair, John Urquhart, who coordinated these adjustments, this generally worked well, though the double bins near the busy Firkin camping zone have still at times been overwhelmed.
Over a 10-month period, over 20 tonnes of litter was collected from the Bonnie Banks Bins with an impressive 97% of it being recycled or baled for use as industrial fuel stock. This equates to the equivalent of a staggering 5,500 bin bags of litter collected overall (160,000 litres) with 5,000 bags of litter being re-purposed. It is anticipated over the first full year of the new Adopt a Bonnie Banks Bin Scheme that an estimated 6,000 bags of litter will have been removed from the lochside.
