The Evening Times article today – which of course impacts on all local residents.

If you see an environmental problem which you feel falls within the remit of the GCC Environmental Task Force – then please contact them.

To report incidents of fly-tipping, litter, graffiti and dog fouling use Twitter, the pink My Glasgow app or phone 0300 343 7027.

THE ARTICLE – photo above copyright The Glasgow Evening Times.

“Rapid response teams from the city’s environmental task force have power washed more than 46,000 sq m of unsightly scrawls – a record amount for any half year period.

And almost 3000 tons of rubbish was lifted and disposed of by community based clean teams.

New figures released today also show debris from more than 14,000 fly tipping incidents were removed and 500 sites improved by staff.

Almost 7000 litter louts were hit with fixed penalty notices in a bid to make them clean up their act and 750 pet owners were fined for failing to clean up their dogs dirt.

Long term unemployed people were recruited as task force trainees with seven securing permanent jobs, mainly with the city council and the Wheatley Group.

A further 12 have earned their City and Guilds qualifications increasing their chances of finding a job when their year long training ends.

Efforts to encourage city residents to keep their neighbourhoods tidy attracted an additional 224 volunteers boosting the city’s volunteer army to 757.

They carried out 5348 local clean ups supported by task force staff in the past six months.

Pupils have also carried out almost 500 school litter picks and businesses have been involved in more than 800 events.

City council leader Frank McAveety said: “The task force is doing an absolutely tremendous job and the teams are to be congratulated. These figures are remarkable.

“The dedication of the neighbourhood improvement volunteers and school pupils is also really impressive.

“I am heartened by the fact so many new volunteers have signed up to help keep their patches tidy.

“These people are taking pride in their communities and realise by getting involved they can make a huge difference.

“Our school pupils are learning about conserving the environment and why it is wrong to drop litter. These are good habits which they will take into adulthood and that is positive for the city.

“I am absolutely delighted several trainees have landed permanent jobs with the new skills and experience they have acquired. Helping long term unemployed people into work is a key element of this project.

“Admittedly we continue to face challenges. It is shocking that more than 7500 people have committed littering and dog fouling offences in the past six months.

“Hopefully receiving a fixed penalty will make them think twice about doing it again.”

In May last year, it was announced rapid response teams would be deployed across the city as part of a newly launched task force aimed at tackling problems like dumped rubbish, dog fouling and litter.

Local residents are able to report problems through Facebook and Twitter with the information gathered at a state-of-the-at command centre in Bridgeton.

Members of the 30 rapid response teams are then dispatched to tackle the issues as quickly at possible.

At the launch Mr McAveety said: “The environmental task force is a service fit for delivery in the digital age.

“We want genuine engagement with the people of Glasgow to work with them to build a better city.

“Through Twitter and Facebook the public can directly communicate with us and identify what needs to be done across Glasgow.

“I am determined to make this work. The environmental task force will deliver – the people of Glasgow deserve that.””