Marine

Marine Scotland staff clean up: 2nd April

April 1, 2015 by Marine Scotland Communications No Comments | Category Collaborations, Marine Directorate general, Marine Directorate Science, Marine Litter

Beach clean at Torry, Aberdeen (copyright of Tim Poole, SEPA)

Early in March, we told you about some of the fantastic work that colleagues in our Lab in Aberdeen have been doing to keep the beaches at Torry clean.

Around 20 people turned up to help for the latest clean up, including colleagues from SEPA, SNH and JNCC from the neighbouring Inverdee House. The clear up operation went as far as the first jetty starting from below Inverdee House.

Litter leader Danny Pendrey said “Today’s waste collection was not pleasant – nappies, clothing, household waste and so on but nevertheless it’s heartening to have some of the area cleared and another team may be heading out before next week to get us back on track, after recent setbacks.”

The latest collection details are:

• Total person effort collecting was 1,200 minutes
• 16 bags of general waste
• 12 bags of recyclables – 243 cans and 352 bottles
• 1.5 bags of fishing gear
• 2 steel barriers
• 1 large section of Perspex roofing sheet
• 1 very large bright orange buoy

This makes the running total (since mid-March 2015):

•  Person effort 1,960 minutes (or about 33 hours) spent collecting (Note – The true total time will be closer to double this figure if we include getting there, sorting etc)
• Total number of people collecting 34
• Assisted by 3 dogs
• Bin-bags of general rubbish 40
• Recycled bottles and cans 2,148
• Other things include – 1 hypodermic needle, 3 car tyres, 13 traffic cones, 2 steel barriers, 1.5 bags of fishing gear, 1 large roofing sheet and 1 large buoy.

Their combined efforts are starting to make a difference (see picture below courtesy of Tim Poole at SEPA) but there is a bit to go they have not yet gone past the wee sandy beach past the “first” jetty.

We’ll keep you posted on their developments and next week, we’ll be taking some film footage of the clean up efforts, so keep a close eye on our Blog for further updates and potential film stars in the making!

Related Information

Read about the Marine Conservation Society’s (MCS) Great British Beach Clean, and our subsequent attempts to clean up our seas for good in our “Life’s a (clean) beach!” post of 19 March.

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