IT is all too easy to think of litter as an urban problem, but in the Scottish countryside, beautiful open and wild spaces are being turned into dumping grounds for the detritus of our consumer culture.

The most obvious problem is litter. People throw crisp packets and empty bottles from their cars, or leave behind the tatty remnants of their camping trip in some scenic idyll. But potentially more damaging is commercial waste, dumped by unscrupulous companies.

In the west of Scotland, for instance, illegal car-tyre dumping is a huge problem, with criminals charging mechanics a removal fee far cheaper than legitimate companies, but then dumping the tyres somewhere away from public view.

Other waste gets dumped in the same way, including old fridges, building rubble, or clapped-out industrial machines. Factor in other fly-tipping, which could be domestic and commercial waste, and the enormity of the problem quickly becomes apparent.

Tackling these problems is no easy task and some communities are seeking new solutions. In Aberdeenshire, for example, some residents are battling litter and illegal dumping. They have banded together under the name Aberdeenshire Litter Initiative (ALI) and work in a similar way to the American "adopt a street" initiative, with locals charged with looking after their own street, but the group also clears rubbish from the sides of rural roads and takes on specific projects, such as the clean-up of a stretch of the River Don.

George Niblock, who leads the group, has a long history of combating waste and is a councillor with the Chartered Institute of Waste Management.

He said: "We believe there are thousands of people in Scotland who clean up outside their own properties and tackle litter in their local area, so really what we're trying to do is acknowledge their efforts. We believe in old-fashioned civic pride, in keeping a beautiful area beautiful. We're not doing the council's job but we are helping them. Sadly, the problem of litter is now ubiquitous."

It is Niblock's view that the only way to tackle the problem is by combining local effort and "behaviour modification", which relies on people knowing they will be punished if caught littering. This approach has worked with smoking and has also forced most people to wear seat belts. But rural rubbish is notoriously difficult to combat and increasingly prevalent.

Donna Niven, campaign manager for Keep Scotland Beautiful, blamed the litter problem on a new throw-away culture. She has recently been travelling around Scottish beaches and has witnessed first-hand the amount of rubbish left behind by day trippers.

She said: "I saw some beaches that had been badly affected by campers, or people who come for a BBQ, but leave the place in a bit of a mess. It's becoming more and more of a problem because of how cheaply you can get tents, BBQs and sleeping bags. People simply leave their stuff in the place they camped and spoil the area."

It's impossible to gauge how much litter is left in the countryside, but statistics reveal that fly-tipping is prevalent in rural areas.

During the year 2008-09, there were 1880 illegal tyre dumps found across Scotland, 25,403 incidents where household black bags were dumped and 1591 of white goods. The total figures are not yet available for the current year, but there were 38,186 fly-tipping incidents during 07-08; 40,525 in 06-07; and 34,365 in 05-06. Last year Scotland spent £2,314,629 on clearing fly-tips.

It's not just lazy house-holders to blame, organised criminal gangs make cash from illegal dumping.

A particular problem in the areas around Glasgow is tyre-dumping, as Carol McGinnes from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) explained.

"Mechanics charge people about a pound to get rid of tyres. But sometimes a man in a van turns up and offers to get rid of them more cheaply, no questions asked. Fly-tipping can be a criminal enterprise," she said.

Some of these criminals advertise their services in the Yellow Pages, offering to take domestic waste. This ends up in a field somewhere and once it does, often it is the landowner that bears the cost, with average bills of £1000 a year to clear land. As figures only exist for local authority land, the actual size of the problem remains unclear.

Despite fines for fly-tipping ranging from a £50 on-the-spot penalty up to £40,000, the penalties do not seem to be working, either for criminals or ordinary litter-droppers, given that there is little sign either group is much deterred.