With the local elections fast approaching, I headed out to town centres across Tayside and Fife to see how councils are dealing with litter.
Wrapping up the series is my findings from Perth and Kinross.
We published my findings from Dundee, Fife and Angus earlier this week.
These are just a snapshot how a town centre looked on a given day.
So, how were things in Perth and Kinross? Let’s find out.
Perth
Date: April 22, midday
The city centre was looking quite good.
There was the odd bit of rubbish, including a seemingly abandoned unopened 2ltr bottle of lemonade left by someone who was not as thirsty as they thought.
It was soon picked up a street cleaner.
But other than that, the worst case of littering I saw was a tied up plastic bag of rubbish on George Street.
It was sitting behind a wheelie bin, presumably because there was no space inside.
Even that was dealt with respectfully.
Verdict
It seems residents of the Fair City are fair on their local street cleaners.
Fair play.
Kinross
Date April 22, afternoon
One of my most disappointing visits.
It’s a tie between Kinross and Arbroath for the worst town centre.
Which was genuinely surprising, as Kinross is quite picturesque.
One of the first things I saw on my arrival was artist slabs on the ground that read “love” and “kindness is key”.
What a lovely welcome.
However, a stroll down High Street put a dent in the good vibes.
There was broken glass on the pavement. A circus poster on an empty shop window was tattered and blown down the street.
And there was more than one bakery wrapper lying around.
And as my visit came to an end, I came across another slab on the ground.
I couldn’t make out what it said. Because it was smashed.
Verdict
Disappointing.
Kinross is an otherwise lovely town, but it was really not looking its best when I visited.
How many street cleaners are there in Perth & Kinross?
There are currently 67 workers whose main job is street cleaning.
This number has steadily crept up in the past decade.
In 2012 there were 56 street cleaners and in 2017 there were 62.
‘One of the best performing local authorities’
A Perth & Kinross Council spokesman said: “We want all our residents and visitors to enjoy clean streets when they visit Perth and Kinross and the Council works with the public to prevent littering.
“The council and general public work hard to maintain Perth & Kinross’ streets and surrounding areas, and we consistently see high levels of support for new measures and initiatives tackling litter.”
Conversation