TOM Rawson, lead organiser of the Great Borders River Clean held last weekend, has said that in spite of the clean-up's success, he won't stop his campaigning for a cleaner Borders.

Mr Rawson, who teaches at St Mary's School in Melrose won the Tweed Forum River Champion award last month and has pledged himself to battling plastic pollution in the Borders.

Tom told us: "Despite the success of the clean, I would like to do everything in my power to continue to keep this issue in the public eye and to help spread the message that concerted community effort can start to turn the tide on this blight on our rivers and waterways.

"With this in mind, I will be repeating the successful project so wonderfully demonstrated by the amazing people of the Scottish Borders on the Tweed system in the Spring and starting a parallel project on the Tay system."

On Sunday (October 27), towns across the Borders came together at 20 different locations to help clean up the waste left by the side of the River Tweed and the six other rivers in its system.

Over 300 volunteers from the public and local groups all donned their high-vis tabards and litter-pickers to tidy up the Borders.

A massive 1850kg of trash was collected on Sunday, and it wasn't just plastic. Shopping trolleys, hubcaps and even some wigs were found on the river banks and the surrounding ecosystems. The most recorded items, however, were baby wipes.

Alongside the Great Borders River Clean, Peebles Community Council ran its Bin the Litter campaign where volunteers collected waste along the roads leading in and out of the town. Some of the Bin the Litter volunteers later went on to join their fellow activists along the banks of the Tweed to help their clean-up.

The Peebles team collected enough rubbish to fill 40 bin bags as part of their second Bin the Litter project of the year.