Community Payback teams joined a mass clean-up of Malls Mire, a wooded area between Toryglen and Rutherglen.
Urban Roots, a conservation group and an Evening Times 2012 Community Champion awards finalist, has been managing the woodland since 2009 to encourage more people to walk there.
As part of the council's Clean Glasgow campaign, Glasgow Community & Safety Services (GCSS) has supported the work by supplying volunteers with litter pickers, skips and refuse sacks.
GCSS operates a Community Payback service with the council's social work department, which provides placements for offenders sentenced to Community Payback orders.
Tom Cooper, of Urban Roots, said: "Rubbish has been dumped on the site over the years and litter has also been blown into the woods.
"We are gradually clearing the debris with the help of volunteers from various organisations, as well as the Community Payback teams.
"As well as making the woodland more attractive and a better habitat for wildlife, it is also making it safer for people.
"We take a lot of children's groups there to teach them about nature.
"There is also a large area of marshland among the trees and when the rubbish breaks down it also releases toxins into the water."
Glasgow Community & Safety Services also teaches some offenders carpentry skills to boost their chances of gaining employment and reduce reoffending.
Two benches made by the teams have also been donated to the Toryglen woodland project.
Councillor Fariha Thomas, chairwoman of GCSS, said: "This clean-up is a prime example of the work done across the city by offenders fulfilling Community Payback orders.
"It is heartening to see communities benefiting from restorative justice.
"Offenders clean, maintain and enhance sites under supervision and I am sure their efforts will be of great assistance to the Urban Roots project.
"The two benches made by the service are also beautiful additions to the nature reserve."
caroline.wilson@ eveningtimes.co.uk
It is making the woodland more attractive and also safer for people
