This article appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter.

The rusted frame of a mattress, so decayed that all that is left now are its springs, has been hauled off the edge of the path by the time I arrive. People, with bin bags, are gleaning over the route with long-clawed pickers.

This is a public path I sometimes run, on my way on a Sunday, along the back of Seafield sewage treatment plant, to swim at its easterly end. It’s also next to a notorious fly-tipping spot,  a road grandly called Marine Esplanade, but, years ago, dubbed Mess-planade, by the now folded group Leithers Don't Litter. Often, when I run past, I have thought, ‘someone should organise a litter pick here’, but then I have jogged on with my day and done nothing about it.

Now, though, the recently formed Edinburgh Trash Club, are doing something about it.

It’s a group that has been created by Marine Conservation Society volunteer, India Stephenson, and journalist and campaigner, Rachael Revesz. Not only does it clean up litter, but is highlighting the way private companies and landowners turn a blind eye to the rubbish on their land, and calling on them to take more responsibility and clear it themselves. They are saying this is “not good enough”. But the problem in this case, is who are the landowners?

Stephenson is a volunteer with the Marine Conservation Society and has set up beach cleans on the Forth coastline. She tells me: “We're aiming to meet up regularly to get........

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