Irvine's dedicated band of litter-picking legends cleared up an incredible 1,550 sacks of rubbish over 2018.

Irvine Clean Up Crew recently revealed their total amount collected for 2018, with volunteers also raking up 786 hours of work.

The group, which formed in late 2017, regularly target particularly litter-filled areas around town, with the group aiming to focus on the beach for 2019.

Irvine Clean Up Crew volunteer Sandra Hughes said: “We collected 1,550 sacks last year but that was with 786 volunteer hours which I was more taken back by.

“You can’t really control how much litter’s already there but getting people out really does make difference.

“What we really want to do this year is concentrate on the beach so we can go for a Keep Scotland Beautiful award. It’s early days but we’re rallying ourselves towards that, if not this year then next year.

“We had a really good turnout on Sunday I think a lot of folk had made a New Year resolution to get out.

“We’re getting into a regular pattern now so the month of January we’re going to try for every Sunday afternoon at 2pm.

“We’re going to try and rotate them from the front shore, Western Gailes, the south where the dragon is, it’s always particularly bad down there because of the car park, and the Pilot House, Harbourside and the Beach Park. If we just keep rolling like that, hopefully come the Summer we’ll be on top of things.

“The young one’s are very enthusiastic. and we give the kids wee certificates. We had 17 under 16s recently, which is good as a lot of the older people think its just the young ones dropping the litter and in our experience it’s not, a lot of it’s drivers putting it out the window.”

For more information email irvinecleanupcrew@gmail.com or keep an eye out for upcoming litter picks on their Facebook page.