Marine charity urges beach lovers in Scotland to join national coastal clean up
Marine Conservation Society seeks more supporters to sign up to annual beach clean to help keep Scottish beaches litter free
From syringes to ceramics, plasters to panty lines, fishing line to fridges and plastics to pushbikes – it’s all been found on Scottish beaches at one time or another and the Marine Conservation Society (MCS), the UK’s leading marine charity, says it needs beach lovers in the country to help pick up even more rubbish.
This year’s MCS Beachwatch Big Weekend takes place on the 21st – 23rd September, and will involve thousands of volunteers taking to the beaches all around the UK coast as well as the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.
During the event, volunteer litter pickers will clean up and record the rubbish they find, as part of the International Coastal Cleanup which takes place in over 100 countries and regions worldwide. The data collected will help MCS shape its beach litter campaigns and keep up pressure on Governments to act to reduce the amount of rubbish that blights our beaches.
Last year fewer volunteer took part in the event in Scotland and the charity is keen to ensure that this year more people get involved across the country both as beach organisers and volunteer cleaners.
In 2012 499 volunteers cleaned 35 Scottish beaches and picked up 20,951bits of litter. Overall, Scotland had more pieces of litter per kilometre cleaned – 2,041 compared to the UK average of 2,007, which was a 20% rise on the previous year.
“As a charity we rely heavily on volunteer support either at events or financially,” said MCS Scotland Programme Manager, Calum Duncan. “Beachwatch is a great way for our supporters to get hands on and really make a difference. Last year we saw a drop of almost 100 in our volunteer numbers, so this year we would we like to see more people out on beaches this year and more beaches cleaned. We need people to organise beach cleans as well as volunteers to clean them up – there’s loads of support both online and on the day.”
To get involved in Beachwatch Big Weekend 2013 in Scotland and be part of the most influential fight against marine litter in the UK visit the website here www.mcsuk.org/beachwatch or telephone 01989 566017.
If you can’t make it to a beach at the end of September, but would still like to help then text Beach5 to 70300 to make a donation to MCS or join the charity at www.mcsuk.org or help with our year round events.
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