Saving Loch Lomond? - Loch Lomond conservation charity forced to withdraw litter bins

As Ross Greer trumpets that his Green Party has, “saved Loch Lomond”, the independent conservation charity, Friends of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs, is announcing it can no longer sustain its “Keep the Banks Bonnie” litter management scheme going.

The charity’s Chairman, John Urquhart, said,

“5 years ago, in an effort to better manage the dreadful littering of the A82 along Loch Lomondside, The Friends used a “Covid Recovery” grant to install 20 litter bins in laybys between Arden and Tarbet.

Since then annual management and servicing costs of around £30k (inclusive of a 12.5% increase from the service provider in 2026) have been met by local businesses, plus some limited support from the National Park and Argyll and Bute Council, but it has been proving more and more difficult to raise the business sponsorship necessary to keep the scheme going and this year’s refusal by the National Park and Argyll and Bute to give any support at all means we have had to withdraw it.

(The map shows the businesses which have supported the scheme in the past, most notably Luss Estates Co., which has always borne the lion’s share of the sponsorship burden.)

We are very disappointed that Argyll and Bute Council and the National Park were not prepared to make any contribution to our efforts to help them discharge their duty to keep the A82 clear of litter. Splitting the cost three ways, a contribution of only £10k each from Argyll and Bute and the National Park would have secured the scheme for another year and would have represented good value for the public purse. Of course, if they would shoulder the job themselves, it would cost so much less. Reluctantly, the decision was made on Monday to remove the bins from service as the financial burden on the charity became unsustainable.”