KEEP Scotland Beautiful has welcomed the opening of a public consultation on an updated Marine Litter Strategy which will run until 22 March 2022.
KSB CEO Barry Fisher said: “We know that 80% of marine litter comes from land and that we need to tackle this problem upstream. Our stats also highlight that 88% of people believe that litter is a problem nationally, while 70% believe it is an issue in their local area – this is unacceptable.
“For over 30 years we have taken action to reduce marine and coastal litter and played an important role in the development of Scotland’s first Marine Litter Strategy which was published in 2014.
“The two consultations running from now until the Spring of 2022 give everyone a chance to have our say on litter – on land and at sea. The next three months provide those frustrated by litter with a huge opportunity to have their voices heard.”
Through KSB’s award-winning Upstream Battle campaign on the Clyde and now active on the Tay the organisation has supported community Anchor Groups to collect data which helped them publish their first citizen science report in June 2020. You can ‘meet’ KSB’s Anchor Groups, and find out more about what they are doing to tackle litter from source to sea on KSB’s campaign pages.
Keep Scotland Beautiful is committed, alongside partners such as the Marine Conservation Society, Fidra, Scottish Water, Nature Scot and Crown Estate Scotland, to improve the quality of our marine environments.
Since 2014 KSB has also:
- Driven action through the Treasure Your River campaign on the Forth, and the My Beach Your Beach campaign at key bathing waters in Scotland;
- Supported communities and businesses to Clean Up their local beaches and coastlines by providing free Clean Up Kits;
- Audited sites across Scotland using our Local Environmental Audit and Management System in line with the Environment Protection Act and associated Code of Practice for Litter and Refuse;
- Recognised beach managers and communities through Scotland’s Beach Award programme; and
- Assisted the Scottish Government with the development and delivery of the updated Marine Litter Strategy.
The Scottish Government is concurrently seeking views on a range of measures to prevent litter and flytipping, optimise services, improve data and strengthen enforcement as part of a separate consultation on a new National Litter and Flytipping Strategy which runs until 31 March 2022.
Keep Scotland Beautiful looks forward to playing their part by supporting people across Scotland to have their voices heard and to make responses to the consultations over the coming months. Find out more here.
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