With a group of volunteers in West Lothian collecting a record weight in rubbish this year, Herald columnist Rosemary Goring asks if we should expect councils to do this for us, or start clearing up ourselves.

On a stroll round the village recently, my husband noticed the hedgerows were festooned with cans and plastic bottles as if decorated for Christmas. Hurrying home, he set out again armed with a bin bag and litter-picker. This was a not entirely serious gift I’d given him years ago. Now, where others stride out for the hills with walking poles, he carries his picker, snapping its beak until he finds detritus.

That day, he returned with the bag stuffed with cans, plastic bottles, glass bottles, carry-out cartons and wrappers. At least he did not find a pair of men’s underpants, as I once did, which set the imagination racing.

When we first arrived in the village we were impressed by a couple of neighbours who, in high-vis jackets, would rendezvous after breakfast and make a four-mile walk once or twice a week. Gathering rubbish from the roadside like police combing for evidence, they greatly improved the look of the place.

None of us, however, is in the league of the West Lothian Litter Pickers. A group that began during Covid, when discarded rubbish on the streets was compounding the general gloom, their efforts have snowballed ever since. In the 12 months to September 2025, this dedicated squad of volunteers – about 200 of them –........

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