Beach Cleaning Programme

In Charlestown and Limekilns, our beaches face pollution every day. Whether it is from: 

• Sewage related items – wipes including toilet, tampon applicators, plastic cotton buds, sanitary towels, disposable razors, 
• Food packaging and drinks containers whole 
• Food packaging and drinks containers broken up into smaller pieces
• Industrial and marine ‘boat’ litter 
• Nurdles – plastic pellets source product for plastic items 

We also dealt with an oil spill on 2019.

Due to the tides, different beaches collect more of one item than another. It is important for us to gather the data on what is washing up so that those responsible for producing it are made aware of where their products end up and how long they are pervading our environment for (why produce an item which is going to last 300 years when it only needs to be 1 year or 6 months?) and those individuals using it, understand the impact their choice has had in polluting the environment that our community and wildlife live with. 

Through our beach cleaning programme we gather data for Marine Conservation Society and more volunteers join our beach cleans every time which is fantastic and more are always welcome. Collectively these volunteers have gathered thousands and thousands of pieces of litter. This data is uploaded to MCS after cleans for the charity to use to make positive change e.g. this data helped get the plastic bag tax in place (??reduction in bags used, found on beaches) and 

We are now working in partnership with Fife Council’s Community Payback team who are cleaning our beaches over the winter when possible which we are hugely grateful for. 

We also run a low key Beach Guardian certificate scheme so each beach clean leader has more ownership over monitoring the beach (MOD locally has adopted 2 beaches) and each beach clean leader has their own litter picking kit to lead cleans when needed. Litterpickers are always available on loan if you would like a pair, just email Jo on clpnatureaction@gmail.com. 

We will continue to promote Wild Planet Explorer’s 3P Pledge messaging – what to flush and not flush locally (only pee, poo and toilet page and no wipes including toilet wipes) and hope to refresh signage and engagement around this, especially where the public visit. If you would like to join a beach clean – please visit the events page here to see when the next one is or, follow the Facebook Page CLP Nature Action or request to be added to the email updates via clpnatureaction@gmail.com as we send out new dates to both of those also.

If you would like to help – please visit the Facebook Page  or email clpnatureaction@gmail.com.