‘The weather will not be awful!’
A little bit of an update and a nudge if you’re coming to Wardie Bay Beachwatch #5 on Saturday. I hope you can come. I can bribe you with a free MCS magazine if it helps?
It’s been a promising time since June’s somewhat quieter event on the 10th (the morning after the election before). Inspiring to see the Greenpeace Beluga II back from their two-month expedition around Scotland, working with MCS on their surveying of 38 beaches. They found plastic litter absolutely everywhere!
They have handed in their petition calling for a Deposit Return Scheme in Scotland to Roseanna Cunningham at Holyrood. The press coverage has been excellent so let’s hope it all adds to the growing momentum to ditch single-use plastics. How are you doing? The June MCS #plasticchallenge was hard!! I failed several times.
Granton East – Survey 10 Jun 2017
Back to business: our June Wardie Bay data survey is attached (see above) . If you want the full breakdown let me know and I’ll send it to you. Here’s a link to the summary on the MCS website. 20 of us collected 8 bags of 24.9kg of junk: 51.6% plastic and 36.6% sanitary waste from sewage. Talking of which, that’s even more sewage than last time and it’s becoming a bit of a concern, since with the hot Summer days it’s worrying to see children run barefoot in to the sea for a fun swim. We’ve collected 15 syringes on data surveys since April, and we often find sharps among the strandline. I want to help look after the beach which in turn, means looking after our local people. I’m building a wish list.
We need:
- Better waste management
- Increased protection from sewage outflow
- Action on fly tipping
- More general waste bins
- More recycling bins
- Advocacy for behaviour change on litter
- A visitor notice board at Wardie Bay entrance
- Minimum water quality signage
…that sort of thing. Please feel free to add suggestions.
There have been one or two suggestions for a fundraiser. I’ll be scoping things out in July. The council would be behind us. Please do send thoughts on a postcard.
So, I hope to see you on Saturday! It starts at 13:30 and ends at 16:00. You can sign up on the MCS website, or here on facebook, or follow updates on twitter. There’s a risk assessment for the event linked here. Please read it, particularly if you’re bringing kids.
Karen Bates, Wardie Bay Beachwatch
email: wardiebaybeachwatch@gmail.com
facebook: @WardieBayBeachwatch
twitter: @wardiebaybeach
MCS website: Wardie Bay
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