Wednesday 13 September 2017

The Great British Beach Clean

Marine wildlife is under threat from the waste and litter that finds its way into our seas - every year hundreds of birds, turtles and marine mammals accidentally eat or become entangled in litter. This article from Oceana  describes how baby albatrosses suffer from a diet of plastic trash while this article from the BBC offers an overview of the plastic pollution issue.This video from ITV Anglia gives a sobering idea of the amount of plastic that finds its way into the oceans.

We can all play a part in turning the tide on marine litter!

Every year, the Marine Conservation Society organises the Great British Beach Clean. This year it takes part between the 15 - 18 September. You can find out more here and find your local event here.

This year, for the first time, many of the plastics collected at clean up events will be sorted and recycled, giving them a second life as new products. Rigid plastic and cigarette stubs that are collected will be made into shampoo bottles and advertising boards with TerraCycle.

It's also important to avoid waste and litter reaching the sea in the first place! Don't flush anything other than human waste and toilet paper down the drains! In Edinburgh, you can (as I do)  volunteer with the Water of Leith Conservation Trust to (among other things) collect litter from the river and walkway to prevent it reaching the sea.

As ever, text in red contains hyperlinks to other pages where you can find out more. 

6 comments:

Gershon Ben-Avraham said...

Thanks, Juliet. As always, I learn something from you.

eileeninmd said...

Great post, I agree we can all play a part in helping to clean up are beaches.

Lowcarb team member said...

We can all play apart in keeping not only beaches clean but all around us!

All the best Jan

RG said...

We have a beach cleanup here on Sat. Sept 16 as part of the International Coastal Cleanup. We will be recording data and providing it to the Ocean Conservancy.

I was just visiting yesterday with a friend and he commented about how much cleaner the beaches and stream sides that he goes to are now than they were 10 years ago. He sees families picking up trash as they see it and not leaving any of their own. He believes the ongoing education and awareness everywhere has really helped.

Everybody keep it up!!!!

Crafty Green Poet said...

Rabbits Guy - that's great to hear!

Jamie Purves said...

I like the Water of Leith volunteers' mission as Guardians of the River! its a great philosophy for everybody to keep watch on their own patch, however wee!