Staff from Granton-based Timberbush Tours, one of the country’s leading coach tour operators, recently completed its voluntary annual ‘beach clean day’ along the foreshore at Silverknowes, helping to lessen the visual and harmful impact plastic waste has on our local environment.
Six volunteers spent the day working in teams across a 100 metre stretch of Silverknowes beach, filling sacks with discarded plastic bottles and supermarket bags as well as drinks cans– some had been left by beach goers, but the majority swept in on the incoming tide and deposited on the shoreline.
However, what concerned the Timberbush team most of all, was the accumulation of non-biodegradable wet wipes – one of the biggest single use ‘plastic’ items that causes insurmountable issues for bird and marine life.
Steve Spalding, CEO, Timberbush Tours said: “The team reported back to me that picking up wet wipes from Silverknowes beach was their biggest challenge. It was quite shocking to see how many were collected over the course of their time on the beach.
“They filled several sacks – most of which had been flushed down toilets and are then washed ashore. People have to realise that several brands of wet wipes contain plastics and are not bio-degradable but enter the eco-system and food chain with often devastating results for marine life, birds and ultimately humans.
“When the majority of volunteer time is spent collecting wet wipes, it brings home the point that more education is needed for consumers to learn about their safe and effective disposal. They should most certainly never be flushed into a sewerage system and left to pollute our rivers, oceans and seas.”
“In broader terms, more than eight million tonnes of plastic end up in the world’s oceans every year, 50% of which is for single-use purposes such as plastic-based wet wipes. Our team of volunteers cleaned up one very small section of beach along the River Forth and what was picked up truly shocked us all and that, I think, really puts things into perspective.”
The annual ‘Beach Clean Day’ is part of Timberbush Tours’ commitment to an expansive Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme. The company is committed to preserve and maintain Scotland’s natural beauty. Its coaches travel daily through the Scottish countryside and is consciously aware of the effect this has on the environment – one of the reasons why it takes part in beach cleans and tree-planting every year, as well as many other schemes.
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