AN eco-warrior from Dumbarton has been presented with a Clean Up Scotland ‘Hero of the Month’ award.

Jonathan Rainey was bestowed with the accolade in recognition of his efforts to support a Keep Scotland Beautiful exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Art, in Glasgow.

The award is part of the national Clean up Scotland campaign, organised by environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful.

And Jonathan, aged 23, was praised for his contribution towards the Keep Scotland Beautiful #SipDontTip exhibition.

This saw him collect, in response to a public appeal by the charity, hundreds of coffee cup lids from in and around his local area.

Jonathan loyally labelled each lid with details of the location that they were found and they formed an integral part of the public exhibition.

An eager environmentalist, Jonathan can regularly be found out and about cleaning up the local spaces.

He also helps raise awareness of his efforts and other Clean Ups in the area on social media- and in the Dumbarton Reporter letters page.

Jonathan said: "I would like to thank Keep Scotland Beautiful for this award.

"Whilst I really enjoy cleaning up litter from my local area, particularly Overtoun Woods, I wish that I did not have to.

"The Keep Scotland Beautiful exhibition really helped to give our littering problem some perspective and I hope that people really do stop dropping their litter.

"I have been cleaning up litter for a number of years and I hope that my own activities, and those of Keep Scotland Beautiful, help to inspire even more people to get involved with local clean ups and reconsider how they dispose of their rubbish."

Jonathan was presented with the award by Keep Scotland Beautiful’s Heather McLaughlin.

The award is supported by The Helping Hand Company which provides each Hero with a Clean Up kit - including a Scottish litter picker and handy hoop.

Heather McLaughlin, community projects officer at Keep Scotland Beautiful, said: "It is both the individual and collective efforts of organisations and volunteers, such as Jonathan, which help to improve local spaces for local people and raise awareness of the scourge of litter sweeping across Scotland.

"I would like to commend Jonathan for his ongoing commitment to cleaning up our country.

"His hard work has helped to secure the success of our #SipDontTip exhibition and also helped to deliver local environmental improvements."

The Clean Up Scotland campaign encourages everyone to get involved by visiting www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/cleanupscotland to find out how you can help with to achieve their ambition to make Scotland the cleanest country in Europe.