River Dee’s first Source-to-Sea clean-up makes waves for wildlife and community

Members of the Deeside community helped to tackle the blight of litter this June in the first-ever Source-to-Sea litter pick spanning the length of the River Dee, from above Braemar in the Cairngorms right down to the Port of Aberdeen. 

Facilitated by the River Dee Trust and Balmoral Ranger Service, the month-long environmental initiative was launched to raise awareness of the far-reaching impacts of litter on our riverbanks and enable action on a landscape scale. 

Seeing close to 400 individuals from various estates, ranger services, school, youth, corporate and community groups taking to the riverbanks as part of this effort, resulted in the removal and disposal of 151 bags of litter collected from 34 different events across the catchment. In total, approximately 75% of the Dee’s banks were cleaned of litter during the month of June. 

The River Dee Trust’s Education and Outreach Officer Keilidh Ewan shares a word of thanks “to everyone who took part in the Source-to-Sea litter pick, we cannot thank you enough. As the first river-wide litter pick on the Dee, we’ve been blown away by the sheer scale of everyone’s support.”

“Having this concentrated community effort over the course of the month has given us a much clearer picture of upstream areas that are being impacted by litter, as well as highlighting some of the worst offending items that are regularly finding their way into our watercourses. 

"Together we’ve prevented 151 bags worth of litter from entering the river, which could have otherwise had severe consequences for the important populations of protected freshwater species on our doorstep. Not only has this had an impact on a local level, but it’s also prevented litter from finding its way downstream and entering the marine environment. 

We hope everyone enjoyed taking part in the campaign, exploring the riverbanks, and doing something positive for nature.”

Following a successful first year, the Source-to-Sea campaign is due to return again in 2026.