Clean Glasgow, Glasgow City Council’s campaign to rid the streets of litter and to change attitudes to littering, fly-tipping and dog fouling, teamed up with Glasgow Chamber of Commerce and key city businesses to launch the Clean Glasgow Business Charter today (Tuesday October 30).
Following the earlier launches of the campaign’s hugely successful Neighbourhood and Schools Charters, as well as a major enforcement programme that has seen over 5000 fixed penalty notices issued to offenders, the Business Charter aims to highlight to the city’s 20,000 businesses how they can both support the campaign and make the most of the services already available to them through the Council.
Already signed up are ScottishPower, Radisson SAS Hotel, Yell, Greggs, Buchanan Galleries, St Enoch Centre and both Rangers and Celtic Football Clubs.
Glasgow City Council Leader Steven Purcell said: “I want to encourage each of Glasgow’s 20,000 plus businesses to show their commitment to the state of their city and sign up to the Clean Glasgow Business Charter. We have already seen huge commitment from Glaswegian residents and school pupils, with over 3000 volunteers coming forward to take part in over 100 clean ups throughout the city since the campaign’s launch in February of this year.
“Our Clean Glasgow Business Action Team is keen to engage with businesses to enable them to improve the visual appearance of their premises as well as encouraging them to support local projects or even to adopt a public space. Glasgow City Council spends a massive £16m on cleaning up the city every year. Through the Clean Glasgow campaign we hope to significantly reduce this figure, enabling us to invest this money in a way that will benefit businesses, residents and visitors alike.”
Alison McKean, head of environment at ScottishPower said: "We are really keen to support Glasgow City Council in its bid to clean up the city. Anything which keeps the world around us a cleaner place to live is a positive step which is why we are happy to sign up to the Clean Glasgow Business Charter. We are already involved in doing our bit locally near our offices with a team carrying out a litter pick up near our Glasgow headquarters, on November 14. We are also expanding our Environmental Forum to include volunteers from across the business who will identify suitable environmental awareness projects that we can get involved in and champion these throughout the organisation."
A Celtic spokesman said: "We are delighted to be part of the Clean Glasgow Campaign and we want to support them in every way possible in their bid to make Glasgow a cleaner city. By signing the Business Charter we hope that this will encourage other businesses to follow suit and allow the campaign to continue to go from strength to strength. We believe that is really important to work with the community and other businesses to improve our city and allow it to improve economically.”
A Rangers spokesman said: “The Clean Glasgow Campaign is a fantastic initiative and we are delighted to support the campaign to make Glasgow a cleaner city to live and work in and to visit. By supporting the Clean Glasgow Business Charter we hope to strengthen the campaign and motivate others to help improve the city and ensure it continues to be regarded as a popular business destination.”
The Business Charter was developed in conjunction with Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, which held a series of focus groups for members on key business issues relating to cleansing.
David Ross, Chamber director, said: “We have worked with city businesses in collaboration with Glasgow City Council in the development of the Clean Glasgow Business Charter to create a charter that responds to the needs of businesses in the city and provides helpful and practical suggestions of ways in which businesses can support the campaign.
“Keeping our city streets clean is of massive importance to the attraction our city has to the many business and leisure visitors we welcome to Glasgow each year. By creating a more attractive city, we can increase the appeal of Glasgow to these important groups who play a part in sustaining a buoyant city economy.”
Businesses in the city centre will be the first to receive copies of the Charter through their doors, with all Glasgow businesses expected to receive theirs by the end of the year.
Those registering their support for the Charter will receive a pack from the newly formed Clean Glasgow Business Action Team, which will help businesses play their part in the Clean Glasgow campaign, and help improve the appearance of their premises.
The pack will contain posters, other Clean Glasgow promotional materials and advice leaflets. In addition, business will be able to access litter pickers, and graffiti treatment kits free of charge, if requested. The first 100 businesses who register their support will also have the option of receiving a free wall-mounted cigarette bin.
You can register your support for the Clean Glasgow Business Charter by phoning the Clean Glasgow Business Hotline on 0800 027 7027.