News
Take the 3P Pledge and put only pee, poo and paper down the pan, says Jo!
Joanna McFarlane, 43, who runs an environmental education business Wild Planet Explorers and is a Sea Champion volunteer with the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) has created a community initiative called the 3P Pledge.
The 3P Pledge asks every household to pledge to only put the 3P’s – pee, poo and paper – down the toilet. It might seem obvious, but across Scotland and the rest of the UK, people are flushing wet wipes, cotton bud sticks and nappies down the loo and much of this ends up on our beaches.
“Sadly my local beach in Limekilns, where my child plays, regularly has wipes (including biodegradable and flushable ones), cotton buds and sanitary items washing up there as a result of people putting them down the toilet. This causes blockages and the overflow of toilet waste into the sea, further adding to the already shocking levels of plastic in our marine environment,” says Joanna.
Joanna says it was after collecting 438 cotton buds in one small area of the beach during one of our local beach cleans earlier this year that prompted her to launch the pledge: “I launched the 3P Pledge and became my local 3P Pledge Champion to encourage everyone locally to pledge to never throw these things down the toilet. The local community and school have been amazing in getting involved.”
The amount of sewage related debris (SRD, that’s the name given to stuff that ends up on our beaches after being wrongly flushed down the loo) was above the national UK on Scottish beaches in 2016. There were 75 bits of SRD per 100m of Scottish beaches cleaned, compared to 45 pieces nationally.
Wet wipes have gone up over 1900% on Scottish beaches in the last ten years with almost 27 found on every 100m of beach surveyed during the MCS Great British Beach Clean in 2016 – the national average of wet wipes per 100m is 14, so almost double the national average. Cotton buds sticks, another frequently flushed item that belongs in the bin not down the pan, are also found in quantities above the national average on Scottish beaches – 33 compared to 26 elsewhere in the UK.
Joanna has been working with local Scout groups of all ages to develop an award scheme which includes taking part in beach and river cleans to communicate MCS pollution campaign messages to young people and to get them to take action. Members of the 11th Fife Scouts and 24th Kirkcaldy Beavers are working towards a special award which includes taking part in beach and river cleans to complete their Wild Planet Explorers 3P Pledge Champion Award.
Tara Proud, MCS Sea Champions Manager, Scotland will be attending the clean and running a litter survey: “Who wants to make sandcastles from wet wipes and cotton bud sticks? These sanitary items aren’t just unpleasant for us to see but we know they cause real damage to the creatures who live in Scotland’s seas. It’s so inspiring that Joanna has voluntarily taken the initiative to tackle this problem. Thanks so much to the Scouts for supporting the 3P Pledge. We hope this inspires other people to take action to clean up our beaches and seas.”
To find out more about how to take the 3P Pledge, become a 3P Pledge Champion or take part in the Award, please visit the Facebook page Wild Planet Explorers Facebook page or The 3P Pledge Facebook page or e: joannamcfarlane@
News
Dive Worldwide Announces Bite-Back as its Charity of the Year
Over the next 12 months, specialist scuba holiday company Dive Worldwide will be supporting Bite-Back Shark & Marine Conservation with donations collected from client bookings to any one of its stunning dive destinations around the world. The independently-owned operator expects to raise £3000 for the UK charity.
Manager at Dive Worldwide, Phil North, said: “We’re especially excited to work with Bite-Back and support its intelligent, creative and results-driven campaigns to end the UK trade in shark products and prompt a change in attitudes to the ocean’s most maligned inhabitant.”
Bite-Back is running campaigns to hold the media to account on the way it reports shark news along with a brand new nationwide education programme. Last year the charity was credited for spearheading a UK ban on the import and export of shark fins.
Campaign director at Bite-Back, Graham Buckingham, said: “We’re enormously grateful to Dive Worldwide for choosing to support Bite-Back. The company’s commitment to conservation helps set it apart from other tour operators and we’re certain its clients admire and respect that policy. For us, the affiliation is huge and helps us look to the future with confidence we can deliver against key conservation programmes.”
To launch the fundraising initiative, Phil North presented Graham Buckingham with a cheque for £1,000.
Visit Dive Worldwide to discover its diverse range of international scuba adventures and visit Bite-Back to learn more about the charity’s campaigns.
MORE INFORMATION
Call Graham Buckingham on 07810 454 266 or email graham@bite-back.com
Gear News
Scubapro Free Octopus Promotion 2024
Free Octopus with every purchase of a SCUBAPRO regulator system
Just in time for the spring season, divers can save money with the FREE OCTOPUS SPRING PROMOTION! Until July 31st SCUBAPRO offers an Octopus for free
with every purchase of a regulator system!
Get a free S270 OCTOPUS with purchase of these combinations:
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with A700
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with S620Ti
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with D420
MK25 EVO Din mit S620Ti-X
Get a free R105 OCTOPUS with purchase of the following combinations:
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with G260
MK25 EVO or MK17 EVO with S600
SCUBAPRO offers a 30-year first owner warranty on all regulators, with a revision period of two years or 100 dives. All SCUBAPRO regulators are of course certified according to the new European test standard EN250-2014.
Available at participating SCUBAPRO dealers. Promotion may not be available in all regions. Find an authorized SCUBAPRO Dealer at scubapro.com.
More information available on www.scubapro.com.
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