Members of the community lent a helping hand last Friday as they turned out to clean-up the Forth and Clyde Canal and surrounding areas.

Groups, including local residents, pupils from Our Lady of Loretto Primary School and McDonald’s staff, headed out to pick up litter from the area surrounding Dalmuir Drop Lock and Bowling Beach.

Several also took to the water themselves to aid the clean-up effort in kayaks during the event, which was part of the fast food chain’s “East to West Coast” environmental event, run in partnership with Keep Scotland Beautiful.

Others hopped aboard the Poly Roger, which was there to take people out on “plastic fishing trips” to raise awareness of the growing levels of plastic pollution in Scottish waterways and to encourage more people to recycle their used plastic.

Built from plastic collected on previous plastic fishing trips, the Poly Roger is spearheading plans to build a litter-busting fleet across the UK. It set sail on the canal from the Falkirk Wheel last Tuesday before making its way to Dalmuir and eventually on to Bowling.

Representatives from Scottish Canals were also there on the day, supporting the delivery of the fishing trips, organising the paddle pick-ups along the route to target litter in the canal, and speaking to local schoolchildren.

As well as this “coast to coast” event, McDonald’s will be carrying out community litter picks throughout the summer as part of its Keep Up the Clean Up campaign.

For more information about future clean-ups taking place in Scotland contact cleanup@keepscotlandbeautiful.org or visit keepscotlandbeautiful.org/local-environmental-quality/clean-up-scotland/clean-up-events/.