A SAUCHIE man's efforts to tackle the scourge of litter locally has been recognised by a national charity.

Arron Uytendhal can often be spotted in Sauchie and elsewhere, armed with a litter picker and cart doing his bit to tidy up the trash.

Despite it being something he's "always done", his efforts during the lockdown months in particular were noticed by many locals – who were full of praise for his work.

And now, national charity Keep Scotland Beautiful has taken notice, and named him as one of their 'lockdown litter heroes'.

The charity's website said: "Arron always cared about cleaning up Scotland and would carry out litter picks across Scotland during his breaks as well as in his hometown of Sauchie.

"During lockdown, he took this commitment one step further, getting a litter cart for his birthday and carrying out litter picks daily.

"Not content with just cleaning up his local area, Arron also helped improve local greenspaces for the wider community by cutting grass and hedges, and planting flowers and vegetables, whilst motivating others to do the same.

"To top it all off, he has recently started a local group named Keep Clackmannanshire Tidy."

In recognition of all that work, Keep Scotland Beautiful also sent Aaron a new litter picking kit – which he described to the Advertiser as "really snazzy".

He added that he was delighted to receive the recognition, but maintains litter picking is something he's been doing all along.

He said: "I'm just doing what I normally do, but now people are paying attention to it."

Nevertheless, he hopes that by setting an example and showing people that litter is everyone's issue, more people will get involved in cleaning up their local areas.

"Litter is everyone's responsibility," he said.

"We tried encouraging people not to drop litter, but it didn't work. Why don't we try making picking up litter just something we all do?"

Anyone interested in doing just that can join the Keep Clackmannanshire Tidy Facebook group, where locals come together to arrange tidy-ups.