High Five as Paws on Plastic hits Five

'PAWS ON PLASTIC' turns FIVE on 20th November and is asking dog owners to not only pick a couple of pieces of LITTER while walking their dogs, and also post a beautiful photo on their social media.

Article Source: Paws on Plastic
Last Updated: 17 November 2023 17:15

The “PAWS ON PLASTIC’ campaign turns FIVE this Monday, 20th November 2023 & there are over 25,000 reasons to celebrate (or even 100,000 dogs paws!! whose owners remove over 36 MILLION pieces of litter every year from our streets, beaches, parks and countryside.)

To mark the day, PAWS ON PLASTIC is asking dog owners to not only pick up a couple of pieces of LITTER while walking their dogs, but to also post a beautiful photo on their social media using ♯happybirthdaypawsonplastic and invite others to join them in signing up on our charity’s website and following us across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.

With 12 million dogs in the UK, the potential is HUGE! Imagine the impact if we all took a couple of minutes to pick up litter when we are out walking anyway.

PAWS ON PLASTIC’s celebrations will also take place locally in Stonehaven, the home of Paws on Plastic, on Monday, by the stunning DUNNOTTAR CASTLE with a PHOTOCALL at 2pm to which local members and dogs are invited to join us.

Paws on Plastic is proud to call Stonehaven home and was delighted when Dunnottar Castle kindly agreed to using Stonehaven’s most stunning local attraction as the backdrop for the event.

Founded in Stonehaven, NE Scotland, in November 2018 by Primary School Teacher, Marion Montgomery, while on long term sick leave from teaching, PAWS on PLASTIC, became a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCO51306) in September 2021. The charity encourages dog owners to pick up a few pieces of litter on walks to protect animals, communities and our precious environment and it also educates on the consequences of littering, giving talks to schools, community groups and other organisations plus attending dog shows and community events in order to spread the message further. For the past year the charity has also held monthly beach cleans at Stonehaven Beach in conjunction with Plastic Free Stonehaven on the 1st Saturday of the month. (next one is 2nd December 10-11am.)

“It’s amazing how far PAWS ON PLASTIC has grown in 5 years. It’s something that I started while off on long term sick leaving from primary teaching – never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that we would attract so many amazing people keen to do their own wee bit on walks every day to protect animals and the environment. It’s an incredibly simple concept but I think that’s exactly why it’s been so successful – it only takes a minute to pick up a couple of bits of litter when we’re out walking anyway and it actually gives a real boost to MENTAL HEALTH and sense of achievement seeing an immediate, visible difference in an area. It’s empowering, completely open to all and our impact is HUGE – 25,000 members and followers in over 70 countries removing well over 36 MILLION PIECES OF LITTER every year!

Our aim is to make it just a normal part of an every day dog walk and I’d encourage every dog owner to join us! It feels great to be part of such a positive, dog owning community inspiring change & positive action across the world.”

“I would like to say a huge thank you to my family, friends and all our amazing members and followers for all their efforts. Also a huge thanks and well done to all our partners and fellow environmental organisations who have been so amazingly supportive of us from the start. We are proud to be part of the wonderful environmental network and a huge well done and thanks to all the tireless, committed volunteers out there making a difference every day in their own communities.’ says Marion. “Every single piece of litter removed makes a difference.”

Heather McLaughlin, Campaigns Coordinator at Keep Scotland Beautiful, said: "Everyone at Keep Scotland Beautiful sends a huge congratulations to Marion and all those who support Paws On Plastic as they celebrate their fifth birthday and we have been inspired to see how the initiative has grown since we first worked together.

"This fantastic initiative has shown how big an impact little every day actions taken by people across the world can have as they pick litter while walking their four-legged friends.’

"Paws On Plastic's enthusiastic approach to keeping Scotland beautiful is much appreciated by all and we're extremely grateful for all their support as we tackle Scotland's litter emergency - one piece of litter at a time."

Got a story to share? Send us an email at hello[@]whatsonnetwork.co.uk

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