River Annan community litter pick collects nearly 400kg of rubbish in an effort to fight pollution

  • ITV Border's reporter Ryan Dollard went to join them on one of their litter picking sessions.

Nearly 400kg of rubbish has been collected in a community litter pick effort to keep the River Annan clean.

Dumfries and Galloway volunteers have been taking part in a six month scheme to clean 20 miles of the River Annan, back and forth, from near Moffat to the Solway Coast - funded by Marine Scotland.

65 bags of rubbish, weighing around 6kg each, of mostly single use plastics and agricultural rubbish has been collected so far.

Whilst on a litter pick with children on their half-term holidays, Michael Ferns from the River Annan District Salmon Fishery Board, says it is "great" to see children out on the river looking after their environment.

He said: "All of this ends up in the sea and we all know the issues with single use plastics in particular and the longevity of these plastics going out to sea.

"It's great to see these people getting out and taking an interest in the river, the future of it, as well as the environment.

"It certainly makes a difference to the children, giving them the opportunity to try things... it gets them outdoors and on our rivers which is something you don't see much these days with children.

"We're planning to do two runs of the entire river island catchment, picking up litter... later on in the year or early next year, we'll do another sweep once the vegetation has died back to have a second go of clearing it up."

Credit: ITV Border.

Children from RH Youth Organisation, a theatre and outdoor adventure group in Lockerbie, took part in the litter pick to help the community.

Rebecca Humes, Chief Executive of RH Youth Organisation, says she is surprised by how much pollution there is by the River Annan.

She said: "I'm really surprised by how much there is here. I thought we'd only be out here for a couple hours today, thinking surely there's not that much. But there seems to be loads of plastic and bottles, it's really disappointing.

"It's great to see the young people out and about, getting them out in the environment and the fresh air, keeping them away from their screens and making a real difference to our community."

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