Each afternoon one classroom of S1 pupils were tasked with picking up litter in the school grounds and the surrounding area. 

During the three-week project council staff did not clean up the area in East Kilbride – instead providing the pupils with litter pickers and refuse bags to carry out the work in a safe way. 

Not only was the project designed to help keep the local community clear from rubbish but also to let the pupils see for themselves just how much waste was being dropped each day. 

Councillor Robert Brown, the chair of the council’s Community and Enterprise Committee, said: “This is a fantastic way to allow our young people to see for themselves the impact of thoughtlessly discarded waste. 

“The clearing up process and resultant feel-good factor of a job well done is an excellent example of the message behind the council’s ‘It’s Your Place’ campaign which urges everyone to always use the council’s road-side bins, household bins and recycling centres. 

“Asking everyone in our communities to take pride in their area by not dropping litter is being exemplified by the pupils at Duncanrig, who will hopefully take this message forward with them into adult life – and encourage others to do likewise.” 

The school is planning to run the project every year and hopes there will be some positive behaviour changes which will stay with the pupils throughout their education years and beyond. 

Tracey McWilliams, the fundraising lead teacher at Duncanrig, said: “By starting this project in S1 we are showing our youngest students the problems litter causes. 

“We also used the project to raise more than £1000 for local charity Jessica's Helping Hand and our school fund." 

And Craig Twaddle, Sustainability Lead teacher at Duncanrig, added: "The topics of Climate Change and Learning for Sustainability are gaining lots of attention in Scotland at the moment. 

“Alongside the council’s Youth Forum on Climate Change and Sustainability, the young people of Duncanrig have been making positive changes across South Lanarkshire. 

“As well as raising awareness of what the terms sustainability, climate change and climate action actually mean, it also helps alleviate climate anxiety by reducing helplessness - sharing what we can do - not what we cannot."