News
SCRAPbook – Taking to the skies to find Scotland’s coastal and marine litter hotspots
Three very different charities are joining forces to map the extent of marine litter around Scotland’s coastline. The Marine Conservation Society (MCS), Sky Watch Civil Air Patrol and the Moray Firth Partnership have launched SCRAPbook, which will see volunteer pilots and photographers identify pollution hotspots and litter sinks.
SCRAPbook – Scottish Coastal Rubbish Aerial Photography – will see aerial photographs taken and fed into an online scrapbook for volunteers, communities, schools and individuals to direct beach clean up and survey activity.
Archie Liggat, Sky Watch Chairman, says the charity’s pilots get a bird’s eye view of the country’s coastline:
“Our pilots get a unique view of the country’s coastline. We fly sorties for many different reasons and are always dismayed by plastic contamination we see floating in our waters or landing on our beaches.”
SCRAPbook is an exciting project as we hope it will raise awareness of how much litter is around our coasts and enable more to be done about removing it and preventing it from getting there in the first place. There will be seven Civil Air Patrol teams taking part who are all very excited to be joining forces with MCS and MFP on taking the battle on ocean plastics to Scotland’s skies!”
The availability of these photos to the public and beach cleaning organisers like MCS will be a game changer in directing volunteers to the parts of the coast that perhaps had not been noticed before. Catherine Gemmell, MCS Scotland Conservation Officer coordinates the mobilisation of thousands of volunteers around the Scottish coastline to clean up beaches and record the litter they find. But, says Catherine, there are still many kilometres of coastline that remain uncleaned:
“With nearly 10,000 kilometers making up Scotland’s mainland coast we know there are many stretches of beach that our volunteers have not been able to survey yet . SCRAPbook will enable our amazing volunteers to see where there are beaches that have yet to be cleaned and surveyed which will lead to a more robust evidence base of what and how much is being washed up on Scotland’s shores.”
“From the 5p carrier bag charge to the commitment for a Deposit Return System Scotland has seen how much power data on beach litter can have – this project will provide an entirely new dataset that will be crucial to highlight to Government and Industry what steps we need to take next to stop this plastic tide hitting Scotland’s shores.”
SCRAPbook was borne out of the Moray Firth and Vicky Junik of the Moray Firth Partnership is delighted to see the project go Scotland wide:
“When Peter Mackintosh from Sky Watch gave me a call, thanks to Catherine lining him and I up, it was a match made in heaven….We had a plan to map the coastal rubbish and pollution around our 500 miles of coastline and he had a plane! The Sky Watch crew here in the north have been instrumental in developing this idea into one that could work right around Scotland. ‘The Boys’ – all retired – have given many, many hours working through the test sorties, the equipment and the techniques needed to get this amazing project on its feet. MFP is very proud to be part of that and we hope to bring on board all our fellow local coastal partnerships from around Scotland.”
The SCRAPbook project is part funded by the Scottish Government through Marine Scotland and captured the interest of the Cabinet Secretary for the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Roseanna Cunningham, who said:
“I am delighted we are supporting this innovative project – SCRAPbook will make it easier to address the problem of litter from Scotland and many other countries gathering on our shoreline. Scotland has demonstrated leadership in tackling plastic pollution. We were the first administration in the UK to commit to introducing a deposit return scheme and have announced our intention to legislate against plastic cotton buds, one of the items most commonly found on our beaches. “We are also establishing an expert panel to advise us on our work to reduce our reliance on single use items, meanwhile our National Litter and Marine Litter Strategies are helping reduce the amount of waste generated which can enter our seas. The partners in this innovative project have come together to help people look after their marine environment and I encourage everyone to get involved and support their work.”
2020 has been designated as Scotland’s Year of Coasts and Water and the SCRAPbook team hope the project will catalyse the largest strategic beach cleaning operation ever seen in Scotland next year, 2019, allowing the country to showcase a cleaner coastline in 2020.
More information can be found at www.scrapbook.org.uk.
The Ocean Cleanup, the global non-profit project, has removed a verified all-time total of ten million kilograms (22 million lbs.) of trash from oceans and rivers around the world – approximately the same weight as the Eiffel Tower.
To complete its mission of ridding the oceans of plastic, The Ocean Cleanup uses a dual strategy: cleaning up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) to remove the plastic already afloat in the oceans, while stopping the flow of plastic from the world’s most polluting rivers.
Through cleaning operations in the GPGP and in rivers in eight countries, the cumulative total of trash removed has now surpassed ten million kilograms. This milestone demonstrates the acceleration of The Ocean Cleanup’s impact, while underlining the astonishing scale of the plastic pollution problem and the need for continued support and action.
While encouraging for the mission, this milestone is only a staging point: millions more tons of plastic still pollute our oceans and The Ocean Cleanup intends to continue learning, improving and innovating to solve this global catastrophe.
This announcement comes as governments from around the world meet to continue negotiations to develop a new legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution at INC4 in Ottawa, Canada. Representatives of The Ocean Cleanup will be in attendance and the organization will be urging decision-makers to collaborate towards a comprehensive and ambitious global treaty which addresses plastic at all stages of its life cycle and in all marine environments worldwide, including in areas beyond national jurisdiction.
It is encouraging to see that the need for remediation is reflected in the various options for potential treaty provisions. It is essential that the final treaty contains clear targets for the remediation of legacy plastic pollution, and reduction of riverine plastic emissions.
Tackling plastic pollution requires innovative and impactful solutions. The treaty should therefore incentivize the innovation ecosystem by fostering innovations that make maximal use of data, technology and scientific knowledge – such as those designed and deployed by The Ocean Cleanup.
‘After many tough years of trial and error, it’s amazing to see our work is starting to pay off – and I am proud of the team who has brought us to this point.’ said Boyan Slat, Founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup. ‘While we still have a long way to go, our recent successes fill us with renewed confidence that the oceans can be cleaned.’
The Ocean Cleanup was founded in 2013 and captured its first plastic in 2019, with the first confirmed catch in the GPGP coming soon after the deployment of Interceptor 001 in Jakarta, Indonesia. After surpassing one million kilograms of trash removed in early 2022, the non-profit project has since progressed to the third iteration of its GPGP cleaning solution, known as System 03, and a network of Interceptors currently covering rivers in eight countries, with more deployments set for 2024.
About The Ocean Cleanup
The Ocean Cleanup is an international non-profit organization that develops and scales technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic. They aim to achieve this goal through a dual strategy: stemming the inflow via rivers and cleaning up the legacy plastic that has already accumulated in the ocean. For the latter, The Ocean Cleanup develops large-scale systems to efficiently concentrate the plastic for periodic removal. This plastic is tracked and traced through DNV’s chain of custody model to certify claims of origin when recycling it into new products. To curb the tide via rivers, The Ocean Cleanup has developed Interceptor™ solutions to halt and extract riverine plastic before it reaches the ocean. Founded in 2013 by Boyan Slat, The Ocean Cleanup now employs a broadly multi-disciplined team of approximately 140. The foundation is headquartered in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
For more information, visit: theoceancleanup.com and follow @theoceancleanup on social media.
Marine Life & Conservation
Steve Backshall to headline Shark Trust’s flagship event: For the Love of Sharks
Join a host of amazing, shark loving, speakers including Steve Backshall and the Shark Trust team for an evening celebrating shark conservation at the Royal Geographical Society in London this November.
Date: 29th November 2024
Time: 6-10pm
Location: Royal Geographical Society, London
Tickets: https://www.sharktrust.org/Event/flos24
The event will be a celebration of all things shark. Those lucky enough to get hold of tickets will hear from engaging guest speakers with a passion for sharks.
The line-up includes (*subject to change if unforeseen circumstances arise)
Steve Backshall: One of television’s busiest presenters, BAFTA award-winning wildlife expert Steve has been passionate about the wild world ever since he was young.
Steve’s impressive TV career has taken him all around the world, investigating a wide array of species and environments. Steve has filmed over 100 hours of children’s wildlife programmes with the BAFTA award winning Deadly 60 franchise and recently, with Sky Nature, for his new series ‘Whale with Steve Backshall’. He has been a patron for the Shark Trust for 10 years.
Simon Rogerson: is a photojournalist specialising in natural history, diving and the sea.
He is editor of SCUBA magazine, the official journal of the British Sub-Aqua Club. Simon started his career as a crime reporter but gravitated towards his ‘less depressing’ interest in underwater exploration, joining the staff of DIVE magazine in 1999. In 2005 he was named ‘Editor of the Year’ in the PPA’s Independent Publishing Awards. Simon also works as a freelance writer, contributing frequently to the Sunday Times and Telegraph, in addition to BBC Wildlife, Esquire, and a host of international diving magazines. He is the author of a book, Dive Red Sea, published by Ultimate Sports. Now based in Berkshire, Simon has been a Patron of the Shark Trust for 20 years.
More speakers to be announced soon. Head to the Shark Trust website to learn more.
The evening will also allow guests the final chance to see the Oceanic 31, shark art exhibition. Some of the artwork will be auctioned/raffled at the event, while the rest will be auctioned online to raise money for the Shark Trust Oceanic Programme.
For the Love of Sharks is an evening with something for everyone who is interested and fascinated by sharks. Join the Shark Trust, their Patrons, Trustees and Staff, along with a host of supporters for this celebration of shark conservation.
For more information or to buy a ticket: https://www.sharktrust.org/Event/flos24
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