Irvine Clean-up Crew tidy up litter thrown along beach

The volunteers – led by Rachel Little, Tamara Millard, Alan Hughes and Sandra Cuthbertson – rolled up their sleeves and headed to the beach when they heard the bins had been emptied.

One passer by, Catherine Bayliss said: “Well done to all who picked up litter on the beach, my friend and I were commenting how clean and tidy it looked.”

This is just the latest effort by this band of litter pickers who are busy cleaning up Irvine, Kilwinning and beyond.

A group that was originally set up to help tidy up Irvine Beach, it soon grew into an army of volunteers keen to clean up other areas in the town.

It now boasts over 130 members who sign up to get out and about in their own areas to clean up any rubbish they see.

And despite the lockdown where the crew cannot meet as a large group, the volunteers are heading out to make sure that the litter louts don’t win.

Irvine Clean Up Crew set up a Facebook page where the volunteers can share their efforts and areas that are problems for litter.

And their hard work doesn’t stop at the beach as two volunteers headed to Annick River Walk in the town with their litter pickers and bin bags.

They were determined to clean up the popular walk where many dogs stroll each day.

And on the same day two volunteers made their way to Kilwinning Road and Redburn Grove to fill 12 bin bags of litter from the side of the busy roads.

The Clean Up Crew ranges from people taking a bin bag out on their daily walk to others who form a small team for bigger clean up jobs.

Other towns are also taking up the clean up challenge including the community councils in Kilwinning and Dalry where their own band of good Samaritans are picking up rubbish left at roadsides.

A spokesperson for Irvine Clean Up Crew said: “Last year our amazing volunteers continued to clean up the town when we couldn’t meet in groups and collected an astounding 1180 bags of litter.”

Visit Irvine Clean Up Crew Facebook page to get involved.