Nicola Drummond and her colleague Emma work in the “Communities,
Housing and Planning” departments and oversee the Team Up to Clean Up
campaign. They have an active Facebook page where residents in
Renfrewshire can see how the campaign is being maintained.

Years of reduced budgets for local authorities saw a lack of investment in
non-essential services. In 2017 Renfrewshire fell to second bottom of LEAMS
benchmark report (Zero Waste Scotland) comparing the performance of
the 32 Scottish local authorities. This was a concern however it was
recognised people were already improving their place by cleaning up
regularly. Renfrewshire made a decision to harness this approach and
promote it across the authority, celebrating volunteer’s efforts on social
media.

Simultaneously, a larger global movement was taking place with
the media shining a light on environmental issues and a focus on what we,
individually, can do to help. The Council ringfenced £2.5M for a 5 year
spend and increased capacity in gully cleaning, street sweeping and
litterpicking – the Team Up to Clean Up Campaign was created with the
strapline “We are doing out bit to keep your community clean, but we
need your help too.”

Read the case study in full here.