My Beach, Your Beach: Communities step up to protect their favourite beaches

Almost half of beach visitors now check bathing water quality information at key beaches following a successful summer of ‘My Beach Your Beach‘ campaigning.

The findings were released by environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful in a report on this summer’s campaign.

The report also highlights an overall increase in people’s awareness of bathing water quality issues and their willingness to change key habits to help protect the sand and sea.

Specifically, the report reveals:

• 46% of people reported checking bathing water quality information when visiting the beach, up 16% from last summer, following focused awareness raising this summer;
• 43% reported that they would change habits that cause pipe blockages and sewage overflows affecting the beach following education around these issues; and,
• 82% say they would pick up litter when visiting the beach, in order to leave it cleaner than they found it – up 13% from last year thanks to campaign efforts to encourage beach stewardship.

My Beach Your Beach launched in 2018, and since then has supported bathing water quality improvements at a selection of Scottish beaches. 

The publication of the report follows an announcement from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) earlier this week that bathing water classifications this year had shown marked improvements at a number of campaign beaches, thanks to a wider suite of measures.

Environment Minister Mairi McAllan said: “Scotland’s bathing water quality is now at its best since 2015, and the My Beach Your Beach campaign has done great work to encourage people to do what was needed to deliver that.

“People’s choices and habits really do make a difference, so it’s important that we all continue doing what we can to help keep the sand and sea clean for everyone to enjoy.”

Funded by the Scottish Government and run by Keep Scotland Beautiful, with support from SEPA, My Beach Your Beach focuses on beaches that face challenges with bathing water quality. 

These include Ayr, Troon, Irvine and Saltcoats/Ardrossan on the west coast and Kinghorn, Portobello and Fisherrow Sands on the east. The campaign has also been supported by local authorities and communities, as part of their ongoing efforts to protect their beaches.

Barry Fisher, CEO of Keep Scotland Beautiful said: ‘My Beach Your Beach is a wonderful collaborative campaign which has raised awareness of what people can do in their own communities to care for the sand and sea. 

“We are thrilled to see such wonderful results this year, highlighting the impact that the campaign has had both in terms of awareness raising, engagement and concrete outcomes such as improved bathing water quality.  

“We were pleased to establish an exciting new partnership with Scotrail to target beach visitors this year, and I’d also like to thank all the partners, communities and individuals who have worked with us this summer and in past years to make the campaign a success and whose actions have contributed to delivering real improvements in bathing water quality.”

Throughout the summer the campaign raised awareness of bathing water quality and the key habits that can impact on it, encouraging everyone to play their part in helping to protect the sand and sea.

This includes bagging and binning dog poo, taking all litter away and not feeding gulls near the beach, as well as never pouring fats, oils and greases down the sink, or flushing things like wet wipes and other sanitary items down the toilet, as these can cause pipe blockages and sewage overflows.

You can read the full report here and find out more about the campaign at:

 www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/mybeachyourbeach