The discovery of a broken bottle on a stretch of road near Kippen has prompted a call for locals to take litter cleaning into their own hands.
Resident Eric Lewis, 75, who operates a workshop in the village, was walking on the road between Kippen Junction and Thornhill with wife Quita on Wednesday morning when he made the shocking discovery.
Speaking to the Observer, Mr Lewis blasted the callous tipper for leaving the bottle on the side of the road and says residents have to take action themselves in the face of an ineffective response from council and police.
He said: “We go on walks around the paths quite often and we notice a lot of rubbish around so we took a plastic bag with us and cleared it for maybe a mile and a half until we came across the bottle.
“I was just completely disgusted that someone and it’s a nonsense for some people to throw a glass bottle out of their car on a lovely country road like that. I got in touch with the police about it but they told me they had too much on to deal with something like this and you can’t rely on Stirling Council to clear the roads of items like this, so I’m encouraging people to head out themselves with plastic bags while out walking and clear things up.
According to information on the council’s website, the issue of rubbish being left around the countryside by fly tippers costs around £11 million for taxpayers every year, while anyone caught leaving rubbish behind risks incurring an £80 fixed penalty.
But Mr Lewis wants to use his call for action not just to tidy up the region’s country roads, but also to shame potential litterers into being more careful.
“Finding something as dangerous as that just lying at the side of the road has just shaken me to be honest and most arts and crafts people like myself love nature, so I want to do something about it. I just want to see something done and also hopefully make the people who are leaving this stuff feel a bit more guilty about doing it.”
