Tag: My Beach Your beach

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  

Silent disco dancers help clean up Portobello Beach

A band of 18 enthusiastic dancing volunteers joined environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful at Portobello Beach on Sunday (12 September) to rid the beach of litter and kick off the charity’s ‘Source to Sea’ week. The litter-picking crew donned their headphones, tuned-in and removed rubbish from the seaside.

They removed lots of small plastics, including cigarette butts, as well as broken glass and bits of clothing left in the sand – a common issue on popular beaches. As well as removing litter from the beach, the purpose of the litter picking party was to raise awareness of how litter left on land can make its way into the sea to pollute our oceans.

The event was organised as part of the charity’s My Beach Your Beach and Treasure your River campaigns, in partnership with Keep Porty Tidy, who go out daily to blitz litter from the beach and prom. 

Treasure Your River, created by environmental charity HUBBUB and delivered by Keep Scotland Beautiful, has been targeting litter from source to sea along the River Forth this summer.

The event was also supported by Oscar’s Gelato on the Porty prom, with complimentary gelato and other refreshments offered to volunteers.

Now in its fourth year, the My Beach Your Beach campaign aims to support bathing water quality at a selection of beaches, including Portobello, Fisherrow Sands and Kinghorn Harbour beach on the east coast.

The campaign does this by promoting beach stewardship among locals and visitors and encouraging good habits that can affect bathing water quality, both at the beach and indoors.

This summer’s pre-season litter survey, carried out by Keep Porty Tidy for the My Beach Your Beach campaign, found over 110 items of litter along a sample 100m stretch of beach and prom. 

The majority of this litter was drinks and food related rubbish, highlighting the need for people to bin their ‘on the go’ food packaging or take it home.

Greta Elliott, from Keep Porty Tidy, said: “The silent disco litter pick was a lot of fun and a great way to get people involved in keeping our beautiful beach clean and litter free. 

“Hopefully it will help encourage others to do the right thing and make sure their rubbish ends up in the bin rather than polluting the beach.”

Georgina Massouraki, Campaigns Officer at Keep Scotland Beautiful, said: “Beach litter is a huge environmental issue, not only blighting our communities but also washing out to sea, where it breaks down into microplastics, harming wildlife and marine ecosystems. This silent disco litter pick was a fun way to draw attention to this issue and hopefully reach a wider range of people.

“Our My Beach Your Beach campaign is designed to help improve the quality of bathing waters by asking people to bin their litter, bag and bin their dog poo and not to feed the gulls.

“We have been delighted to work with Keep Porty Tidy on the campaign in Portobello and hope that beach users will take notice and be more thoughtful about the impact they can have on the sand and sea.”

Cllr Lesley Macinnes, Environment Convener at The City of Edinburgh Council, said: “We’re proud of Edinburgh’s beautiful beaches and so we’re very grateful to the litter pickers who worked so hard at the weekend to help us to keep Porty beach clean. I love that they had fun in the process of keeping fit and entertaining visitors as they danced along the beach.

“Our cleansing teams provided them with the equipment they needed to safely remove discarded litter and we’ve made sure the waste collected has been taken away. Our teams have been extremely busy throughout the pandemic working to keep Porty and the rest of Edinburgh clean and tidy and it’s great to see the Porty community taking pride in their area and helping them out.  

“I’d ask everyone visiting any of our beaches to respect our local communities and environment by using the bins provided or by taking your litter home with you.”

Read more about My Beach Your Beach: 

https://www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/community-and-place/my-beach-your-beach/

Read more about Treasure Your River: 

https://www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/treasure-your-river/

Prince Edward thanks volunteers for keeping Scotland beautiful

HRH The Earl of Forfar KG GCVO paid a visit to Saughton Park yesterday to join Keep Scotland Beautiful as they celebrated the commitment of volunteers and supporters dedicated to improving our environment.

During his visit, to the recently restored, and Green Flag Award winning park, The Earl of Forfar met with city council staff and a number of groups and individuals who work with the charity to tackle litter, combat climate change and improve local places.

His Royal Highness met with volunteers from the Friends of Glasgow Necropolis Park community group who shared their experiences of the Green Flag programme across Scotland and in particular the role they play.

He also heard about the longstanding Beautiful Scotland and It’s Your Neighbourhood programme in Scotland, meeting a passionate judge and assessor, Colin Ainsworth, and volunteers from Friends of Saughton Park Group and Bonnie Blantyre and Pals Community Group who discussed the challenges and opportunities facing community improvement projects during the pandemic.

A young reporter, Callum Alexander, who is eager to raise awareness of the importance of improving our environment, and KSB’s education team were then able to share their experiences with The Earl of Forfar before he was introduced to KSB’s June Clean Up Scotland Hero, Jason Wilcox, who highlighted his litter picking activity with the West Lothian Litterpickers and the scale of the problem as we have eased out of lockdown. 

His Royal Highness also met with representatives of Keep Porty Tidy a group involved in our My Beach Your Beach campaign at Portobello.

Finally, The Earl of Forfar was introduced to a number of volunteer Charity Trustees and was invited to present our outgoing Chair Lindsay Montgomery CBE, and John Frater with Fellowship Certificates to make their long service to the charity.

Tom Brock OBE, KSB Chairman said, “It was an honour to be able to introduce His Royal Highness, The Earl of Forfar, to some of the truly amazing volunteers we work with, from our outgoing Charity Trustees to the communities, local authorities and young people who are all working tirelessly to keep Scotland beautiful. 

“Our connection and need for clean, green spaces has never felt more important and it was a privilege for us to celebrate and showcase the work being done across the country by passionate individuals all striving to improve places and neighbourhoods and play a key role in Scotland’s green recovery.

“I would like thank The Earl for showing such an interest in the work we, and those we work with, do to make Scotland clean, green and sustainable for everyone.”

My Beach Your Beach campaign relaunched at Portobello

Environmental charity, Keep Scotland Beautiful, has kicked off its “My Beach, Your Beach” campaign for the third year at Portobello Beach.

Every summer since 2018 the campaign has worked to raise awareness of bathing water quality and the role that people can play, whether on the beach or at home, to protect the sand and sea at Portobello. From feeding gulls to leaving litter and dog mess behind, seemingly simple habits can cause pollution and put both water quality and beach experience at risk.

In previous years, the campaign has been successful in significantly reducing the incidence of litter and dog fouling – with a 55% reduction in litter between the first and second year of the campaign.

My Beach Your Beach will continue to raise awareness of the potential impact on water quality by dog fouling and encouraging gulls by feeding and leaving litter. In addition, this year, My Beach Your Beach aims to ensure that beaches are not negatively impacted by increased use by locals and visitors alike as lockdown eases.

Portobello Beach joins five others selected for the 2020 campaign, all of which have faced challenges in improving the quality of their bathing water as measured by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA).

Research confirms the strong link between behaviour on the land and the cleanliness of the local seawater, so this year the campaign is more poignant than ever, as we see some of our favourite sites facing unprecedented pressures as more people holiday in Scotland, consume more single-use and take-away food and find services, such as toilets and bin provisions, limited.

Paul Wallace, Campaigns and Innovation Manager at Keep Scotland Beautiful said, “We are delighted to be bringing My Beach Your Beach, with a difference, back to Portobello Beach this year. 

At a time when we have all reconnected with our local spaces, and are starting to visit sites further away for leisure, we know that if the sun comes out our beaches could bear the brunt of a wave of anti-social behaviour.

“The 2020 campaign will take community engagement on-line and encourage those who live locally to get involved and celebrate their beach. But we will still be ensuring the campaign has a presence on the beach too – with the familiar campaign artwork appearing on bins and at key business locations.

“We’re calling for people who are #LuckyToLiveHere and love their local beach to get involved and celebrate what is on the doorstep – starting with a call out to share images and stories about the beach they love with us.”

In addition to old campaign favourites like the doggy ambassador competition and business support packs, new activities for 2020 will include surveys for local people to monitor the litter and dog fouling levels, a Young Reporters competition and educational resources that celebrate the beach. 

Transport and Environment Convener Councillor Lesley Macinnes said: “We’re pleased that My Beach, Your Beach will continue to focus on Portobello Beach this year.

“It’s wonderful that we have such a well-loved beach in the city, particularly in recent months, but as we’ve seen lately, the litter and dog fouling that result from its popularity are unacceptable. By involving local people in celebrating their waterfront, this campaign will help spread the word on the impact antisocial behaviour can have on water quality.”

The campaign, funded by the Scottish Government and supported by SEPA, is being led by Keep Scotland Beautiful to sit alongside its Upstream Battle and Clean Up Scotland campaigns and annual Beach Awards.

Find out more about how you can get involved and contribute to the campaign on your local beach at www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/mybeachyourbeach