A big clean up

Successful week of action

The East Week of Action, from 27 April to 1 May, saw teams of all ages throughout the Neighbourhood Partnership come together with the local community to clean up the area.

To kick off the Week of Action, local children brightened up the front of Piershill Library by planting flowers in the newly tidied beds. Romeo, 4, and Jake Singh, 9, Morvern, 5, and Lorne Barnaby, 6, Caitlin Mitchard, 9, and Ahsen, 8, and Zainab Shazad, 10, all had a go at gardening.

Task force manager Andy Hunter said: “This is the first time we have pooled people from all over the place.

“We have had concierges, wardens, task force and rangers out, and so far we have collected about six tonnes of rubbish.

“The teams all got to meet each other and enjoyed mucking in and being hands-on.”

Litter dropped by school pupils is one of the challenges for the East environment team. One way the week of action tackled this problem was by making schools aware of how much work it takes to clear up litter every day.

“As part of this week, we started up a barrow beat at lunchtime near schools so we’re always visible,” added Andy.

“We’ve cleaned the burn and worked with school kids to pick up litter at Portobello.

“The wee toddlers were raring to go in their huge vests and gloves.

“We have been into areas we would never get into usually. I was out in a burn today, up to my knees in it. It’s good to see the results.”

One of the major problems in the East that needed to be addressed was the dumping of supermarket trolleys which can clog the Braid Burn and cause flooding.

The task force team also teamed up with specialist services to clean up fly-tipping in the woodland and graffiti in problem areas.