The clean-up, which is part of Beachwatch, a national beach litter surveying and cleaning event that took place at around 80 Scottish beaches, and approximately 300 beaches throughout the UK, occurred over the course of the 16th to the 18th of September. Not only did our volunteers clean the beach, but we catalogued the types of litter we found in order to identify which products are causing the most damage and to help campaign towards solutions to these issues. This has led to some big changes too, such as the 5p plastic bag charge, as a means to reduce waste and further potential litter on our beaches and in our seas.
As soon as we arrived, the popularity of the event was swiftly evident! We were greeted by staff at the Marine Conservation Society and gathered with over 100 volunteers that had turned up to lend a helping hand on a Saturday!
We were split into small groups and each given a certain area of the beach to clean and catalogue. We were all surprised at the sheer amount of litter we found, especially the plastic and wet wipes that were the result of being flushed down the toilet. It was worrying to say the least, especially the number of wet wipes that were found, and it really opened our eyes to the impact we all have on our marine environment.
At the end of the event, I’m delighted to say the beach was looking much, much better! As you can see from our photos, the volunteers were of all ages, young and old! Luckily the weather was glorious during the morning and we were able to leave dry and with a sense of satisfaction.
The reason that we went along to the event as representatives of Timberbush Tours is due to the fact that, as a company, we feel it’s important to be as environmentally friendly as possible to ensure that Scotland, from its beaches to the Highlands, should remain as beautiful as they are today. Our participation in the Big Beach Clean Up was just another aspect of the green work that we do such supporting Trees for Life and ensuring our coaches are maintained and cleaned as environmentally sound as possible. For more details on the work that Timberbush Tours do to help the environment please follow this link.
Hopefully we’ve been able to help a little bit more over the weekend and we shall continue to do our best over the coming years.
