A Moray crusader who is determined to rid the region’s coast and riverbanks of litter fears his efforts may be in vain because of wider issues in society with waste.
Pete Miners has amassed more than 1,350 discarded bottles in the past 18 months and various large-scale fly-tipped items.
Although he insists the “system as a whole is faulty”, he believes not enough is being done locally to keep beauty spots free of rubbish.
Mr Miners took on his latest cleansing mission on Saturday where the Innes canal meets the Lossie Estuary in the Lossie Forest.
With the help of local Forestry Commission ranger Neil Theodoreson, Adrian Hutchins, of the Mosset Burn Preservation Society, and a team of volunteers from RAF Lossiemouth, the environmentalist managed to fill a truck within 90 minutes.
Among the items gathered were car tyres, fire extinguishers and gas cylinders and piles of plastic bottles.
Speaking yesterday, Elgin man said that he alone cannot conquer the problem.
He said: “There’s scope for a lot more picking at that location. My beef really is with plastic bottles. That’s what is mostly there.
“They are all over the beach from Lossiemouth to Kingston. They are just going everywhere, and it’s part of the tipping that goes on further up stream from Elgin and flows down.
“But for anyone volunteering, it is mainly about maintaining lovely locations in the area that are especially good for dog walkers.”
Mr Miners, a full-time carer, says he plans to return to the location, which is about 30 minutes walk from the Lossiemouth footbridge, but believes there needs to be a cultural change to make any real progress.
“It was a relief to finally raise some more awareness of this terribly messy area that is otherwise out of site, out of mind to most, and obviously outwith official litter patrols,” he added.
“But I don’t see that many volunteers picking up litter on a massive or the council doing a massive amount of work being the long-term answer.
“It’s the packaging and the way we throw away wrappers and packets. It’s all wrong. I just think they should stop issuing them. The system as a whole is faulty.”
Mr Hutchins said: “We made a small dent in the litter that is sitting on this bank and if we had a few extra people we could clear it fairly quickly.
“Weather permitting it would be good to have another litter pick of this area in November, maybe a week day this time.”