On Friday the 11th May, locals took part in a beach clean-up on Eyemouth Beach as part of the Daily Mail’s Great Plastic Pick Up initiative. The event which took place across the UK in 1,100 locations included local events at Pease Bay, Coldingham Bay and Eyemouth Beach.
Overall, 12,000 people took part from schoolchildren and scouts associations to local people who are concerned about their local environment. Environment Secretary, Michael Gove, along with celebrities such as Julia Bradbury also took part in the day.
The event held at Eyemouth beach was arranged by Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh & Berwickshire. Rachael was inspired to take part after recent news coverage and Julia Barton of the Littoral art project highlighted the issue.
She was joined by locals who found a great mixture of items from plastic bottle tops to ropes and nets used in the fishing industry, filling 5 large rubbish sacks with waste.
After the event Rachael Hamilton MSP said:
‘It has been hard to ignore the recent news stories and television programmes that have highlighted how plastics are killing our oceans. I was glad to do just a little to help out by organising the beach clean up’
‘I know that many locals regularly clean up their local beach by picking up rubbish when out a walk’
‘It is sobering to think of the amount of rubbish that will be in all of our oceans and waterways after helping to clean up just on small Scottish beach’
‘I welcome action by both the UK and Scottish Government on this issue and I look forward to working with colleagues to help protect the beauty of our environment for future generations’