Big Clean Up takes place in Barrhead
The Barrhead Big Clean Up took place last week, with Council colleagues, local volunteers, school pupils and businesses coming together to help keep East Renfrewshire beautiful.
Published 27 Octover 2025
The event, which was the first in a series of Clean Ups across East Renfrewshire, coincided with the launch of a new litter strategy for the local authority which commits to improving open spaces across East Renfrewshire. Aligned to A Place to Grow, the community planning partnership vision, this strategy aims to build positive change in behaviours with litter and waste across East Renfrewshire.
Litter and fly-tipping hot spots across the town were targeted during the Clean Up, including Carlibar Park, Auchenback, Dunterlie, Glasgow Road, Dams to Darnley, the Westbourne Centre and Cowan Park. More than 280 people took part, including Council employees and volunteers, as well as pupils and staff from Barrhead and St Luke's High Schools and Carlibar, St John's and St Mark's Primary Schools. The businesses involved included Country Feeds Pets Shop, George Leslie and Auld Kirk Nursery.
As well as collecting nearly 4-tonnes of litter and fly-tipping, Council employees tackled graffiti, cleaned road signs, cut back hedges and tidied up plant beds.
East Renfrewshire continually scores high in litter cleanliness levels, achieving 94.9% in 2024/25, as measured by Keep Scotland Beautiful who monitor litter across Scotland, however the Council is not complacent. It recognises that littering and fly-tipping can have a detrimental effect on communities and the wellbeing of residents, so these big clean up events allow problem areas to be targeted and give residents a sense of pride in their town.
East Renfrewshire Environment & Housing Convener Danny Devlin who joined the Clean Up on the day said: 'A huge thank you to everyone who took part in the Barrhead Big Clean Up. Your time and commitment have made a visible difference to our town; helping to encourage pride in our places, making them cleaner and more welcoming for everyone. This event is a powerful reminder of how important it is to look after our environment and not spoil public places with litter. Most of us dispose of our litter responsibly, but the minority spoil it for the rest of us. The Clean Up was a great opportunity to highlight that littering and fly-tipping is not acceptable.
A clean and well cared for East Renfrewshire is important to us all. We want to keep working with our partners and communities to support a cleaner environment for us all to flourish, thrive and live well. Our vision is to Keep East Renfrewshire Beautiful and this is exactly what our big clean up events aim to do. I am already looking forward to the next one!'
