Glasgow volunteers find 'human excrement' during local clean-up operation

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Groups perfoming a clean-up operation in Glasgow have been left furious after finding "human excrement" during their voluntary work.

Locals in Govanhill came together from February 28 to March 4 in a bid to tackle fly-tipping, graffiti, crime and waste.A whopping 50 tonnes of fly-tipping waste was removed, while 530 metres of graffiti was cleaned up and 50 penalties were handed out in just one week.And to the disgust of volunteers and one local councillor, human excrement was discovered during the clean-up.Bailie Soryia Siddique, who represents the Southside Central ward, said the problems cannot be solved by a “one-off exercise”.Cllr Siddique sent a letter to Dr Linda de Caestecker, the public health director at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, in a desperate bid for help.An NHS spokesman told our sister title Glasgow Live that Dr de Caestecker has now retired and Dr Emilia Crighton has been appointed as interim director.A response, however, would be sent to Cllr Siddique.At a full council meeting last week, Cllr Siddique asked Cllr Anna Richardson, the city convener for sustainability and carbon reduction, to support her call to the director of public health for “key people to come together and try again to deal with the situation”.She said the “extremity” of the waste problem in Govanhill had been “proved by the recent week of action which also brought to light the presence of human excrement”.Cllr Richardson said the week of action was part of “ongoing and comprehensive” work in Govanhill and had received “positive feedback” from the community.During the week, 34 fixed penalty notices were issued to businesses that did not have appropriate waste disposal measures in place as commercial enforcement officers made 132