Beach Clean

[User]

 

[Slick]

[QUOTE 5201419, member: 9609"]I have bean collecting plastic junk off the beach for decades, particularly fishing line and twine etc as I have seen the destructive nature of this stuff on wildlife.

And a couple of really positive changes I have seen f late is firstly the huge decline in plastic carrier bags, the recent change in regulations is just wonderful, and secondly all the recent publicity surrounding plastic waste is getting others to pick up the plastics on the beach.

Here is the bin at the car park that has been filled with plastics off the beach
View attachment 402766


this is what I collected, I don't go out of my way to find it as I am mainly enjoying walking on the beach watching birds.
View attachment 402768


and the sad thing is this isnt some beach in an urban enviroment, this is a pristine northumbria beach, a beach that if you were to visit you would probably declare it to be the finest beach you had ever walked on any where in the world.
View attachment 402767

View attachment 402771 [/QUOTE]
The majority of the rubbish in your second picture looks more like it came off the boats, trawler and creel rather than every day plastics we all use. Very difficult to stop that just washing back up on your beach.

 

[Globalti]

Having twice witnessed galley staff on cross-channel ferries emerge from a door and toss two or three black bags of garbage over the side I believe that 95% of the rubbish on beaches comes from ships. Have you ever heard of a ship needing to unload rubbish from the voyage on reaching port?

Once in Burnley I witnessed a woman emerging from her house and chucking two black bags of rubbish into the Leeds-Liverpool canal, which was already choked with identical bags floating, then turning to stare defiantly at me. If only 50% of ships' crew share her idiotic attitude, there's the proof.

 

[Slick]

[QUOTE 5201436, member: 9609"]its still plastic though, and this rope stuff will persist for millennia, the fishing paraphernalia that is so widespread on our beaches is just the tip of the iceberg. Imagine how much of this stuff is offshore, the damage it is doing to wildlife will be colossal, creatures get tangled up in it then die painfully and slowly.[/QUOTE]
I'm well aware of the damage, just an observation.

 

[snorri]

Have you ever heard of a ship needing to unload rubbish from the voyage on reaching port?

Yes! It's a routine activity for shore staff at ports of arrival to deal with waste from incoming vessels. The days of the old 50 gallon oil drum on the taffrail for rubbish collection and eventual upending and emptying anytime the ship was in open water disappeared nearly 30 years ago. The owners of ships which cannot demonstrate an approved rubbish disposal system will soon find themselves in bother.
http://www.imo.org/en/MediaCentre/HotTopics/marinelitter/Pages/default.aspx

 

[Stephenite]

Is biodegradable plastic properly biodegradable? Ie. break down to naturally occurring compounds and elements? And what's the timescale?

 

[Brains]

Is biodegradable plastic properly biodegradable? Ie. break down to naturally occurring compounds and elements? And what's the timescale?

The ones that are used in many local areas of London for household biodegradeable food waste (and dog poo) are made from starch.
They must be stored in the dark, they have a sell by date of 6 months and must be used within 12 months.
They degade in UV.

Here in Greenwich all the household bio-degadables waste (Christmas trees, garden rubbish, potato peelings, vegtable matter etc.) is colected weekly from every house in the brorough (280,000 people spread over 18 square miles) and converted into fertililzer and methane.

 

[annedonnelly]

Well done on picking up the litter @User9609 There's quite a movement at the minute encouraging people to do the same whether individually or at organised beach cleans. If only we could stop it being discarded in the first place...

 

[Paulus]

[QUOTE 5201447, member: 9609"]the ones that amaze me are the simpletons who pick up after their dogs then hide the plastic bag of dog poo in the sea weed, or bury it 6" under the sand. [/QUOTE]

I get a similar thing around my local woodland. The poo is picked up, bagged and then thrown up into the trees and bushes. There are poo bins located at various places, so after doing the hard bit and picking it up, it is not placed in the bin.

 

[Milkfloat]

A couple of weeks ago I helped my kids on their bi-annual litter pick with the scouts. The worst thing to try an pick up were the filled dog-poo bags as you never knew if the bag you were picking up had degraded enough to spill its contents all over you or not. It was like a slightly less harmful game of Russian Roulette. In the end we told the kids to leave them, which was a real shame as the river banks were full of them. I cannot work out why an owner would pickup the poo but then throw it away. Perhaps it is because it is winter and after a while the hand-warming properties of the fresh poo have wears off.

 

[biggs682]

@User9609 you are doing a great job and i think we all ought to collect some plastic rubbish and dispose of it as i am sure at some point in our lives we have all dropped some .

in fact i will collect 1 piece every ride i go on from now onwards and add it to our recycle bin

 

[biggs682]

A couple of weeks ago I helped my kids on their bi-annual litter pick with the scouts. The worst thing to try an pick up were the filled dog-poo bags as you never knew if the bag you were picking up had degraded enough to spill its contents all over you or not. It was like a slightly less harmful game of Russian Roulette. In the end we told the kids to leave them, which was a real shame as the river banks were full of them. I cannot work out why an owner would pickup the poo but then throw it away. Perhaps it is because it is winter and after a while the hand-warming properties of the fresh poo have wears off.

Now this is one that frustrates me as well , as the bags and contents also seem to get thrown up into trees

 

[Globalti]

I would LOVE to follow one of those tree-hangers home then go back, collect all their dangling goodies and dump the lot on their doorstep.

 

[steveindenmark]

Good for you Reiver. Wouldnt it be nice if the council turned out and emptied the bins though.

They should have a national clean your beach day.

 

[snorri]

My local Council has set up a new online system for reporting fly tipping, I try to get a report in every week!