Residents and local groups are being urged to join Scottish Sea Farms for a series of organised beach cleans, part of the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) Great British Beach Clean which takes place 20 - 23 September 2019.
Scottish Sea Farms first took part in the annual event last year and, this year, all three of the company’s farming regions – Orkney, Shetland and Scottish mainland – have organised beach cleans and are inviting locals to join them.
Scottish Sea Farms’ managing director, Jim Gallagher, said, “Awareness of the need for us all to be responsible custodians of our environment has never been greater. Getting involved in the Great British Beach Clean is a way to make an immediate and positive difference, complementing the many initiatives underway at company level to reduce waste and strengthen our environmental credentials further.”
The clean-up begins on the saturday at Teithil Beach on the banks of Loch Creran, followed by Clift Sound in Burra on the sunday and Echna Loch Bay and Weyland Bay in Orkney on the monday.
Removing litter is just one element of the MCS Great British Beach Clean. Equally valuable is the beach survey that’s undertaken at the same time. Ewen Leslie, Freshwater Engineer with Scottish Sea Farms and organiser of the Barcaldine team beach clean, explained, “One of the things that differentiates the MCS Great British Beach Clean from others is that organisers are asked to complete a survey of the litter collected - everything from the type and size of material to the number of items. This data is then collated within national and global databases, providing vital information for future analysis and reporting.”
The MCS uses the data to effect advances such as the plastic bag charge, the banning of microplastics in personal care products, better wet wipe labelling and growing calls for a tax on single-use plastics.
