Netta Kennedy from Troon has been named Keep Scotland Beautiful’s Clean Up Hero for September.

Netta was nominated for the award by Troon Litter Crew, which she has been part of since its creation in March 2018.

Netta dedicates much of her time to cleaning up her local area including the town’s secondary school, Marr College, and its playing fields.

After noticing that litter was a particular problem around the school, she encouraged Marr College to create litter picking groups to help raise awareness of the issue and to encourage the pupils to change their behaviour.

Netta also makes sure that Troon beach is kept litter free.

Netta said: “I had long hated the amount of litter lying on the beaches and around the town and roadsides

“It seems silly now but I was a bit shy about going out by myself to pick it up.

“Other people in the town obviously felt the same and when Friends of Troon Beaches was formed in April 2017 and called for volunteers, that was all the encouragement I needed.”

Georgina Massouraki, Campaigns Officer at Keep Scotland Beautiful, said: “People such as Netta, who give their time to cleaning up their local areas are true heroes and an inspiration to us all. Over the past decade we have seen a steady increase in the amount of litter across Scotland. But, we are heartened that so many people are working to reverse this.

“Our My Beach Your Beach pre-season survey at Troon beach in May showed that there was over 500 pieces of litter along a 100m stretch of Troon beach and prom, over a third of which was food and drink packaging. Our message is simple – bin your litter or take it home. In the meantime, thankfully there are heroes such as Netta who are playing a vital role helping to keep Scotland beautiful.”