A fresh supply of public bins have been positioned around Johnstone High School in a bid to tackle littering in the community.

Routes to lunchtime takeaways have been targeted by Renfrewshire Council in an attempt to encourage pupils to clean up after themselves.

The increased provision forms part of a wider initiative that saw environmental messages spray-painted near drains at secondary schools.

Labour group leader Iain McMillan, who represents Johnstone South and Elderslie, said it would “make one hell of a difference” if the bins are actually used – rather than ignored.

He told Tuesday’s communities and housing policy board: “I would like to thank everybody for getting the new bins roundabout Johnstone High School.

Glasgow Times:

“There’s certainly plenty of them. I’ve never seen so many bins in my life.

“Of course, we can put as many bins in as we like but we need to make sure the kids put the rubbish in the bins, so they’re not just used by dog walkers.

“I would hope at Johnstone High School, the kids are being encouraged and not just expected to use the bins because it would make one hell of a difference in that area if the rubbish goes in the bins – rather than lying about.”

A report to the board said the supply will be rotated around the schools to “encourage positive behavioural change”.

Labour councillor Gillian Graham, who represents Johnstone North and the surrounding villages, wanted to know how the council planned to gauge the success of the measures.

She asked: “How do we know if these will have worked and what we can learn from it?”

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Nicola Drummond, lead officer for building communities, said: “It would be great to have a huge supply of bins to cover all the school routes on the way to the lunchtime takeaways but unfortunately we don’t.

“So, we’ve got these bins that we’re going to rotate and see how they work then maybe we will have a better case in trying to get more bins roundabout the schools.

“We’ve got volunteers roundabout every school…we’re keeping in contact with them.

“They know the bins are coming, they know what’s going to be there and also our StreetScene teams go out and litter pick after schools every day too.

“We don’t really have the resource to count all the litter. That’s something that KSB (Keep Scotland Beautiful) are quite keen on us doing.

“We don’t have the resource to do that but certainly we’ll get a general overview and consensus on how they are working and we’ll move forward with that.”