MSP & Councillor Join Volunteers at Banff Beach Clean

Banffshire & Buchan Coast MSP Stewart Stevenson and Banff & District councillor Glen Reynolds joined the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) and hundreds of volunteers during a beach clean event at Banff today (Saturday).

The Great British Beach Clean is the biggest annual beach clean-up and survey in the UK and is organised by the MCS. The event is now in its 26th year and MCS hopes to beat what was a record-breaking 2018 with even more beach cleans organised and more volunteers getting involved. Last year, 2,913 Scottish volunteers took part, removing an incredible 75,807 individual items of litter at 135 beach cleans along 15,680 metres of Scottish coastline.

Stewart Stevenson joined the citizen science project to help clear and survey the litter found on the beach at Banff. Data collected by volunteers from over 25 years of MCS-led Great British Beach Cleans has been instrumental in the introduction of Scotland’s 5p single-use carrier bag charge, commitments to implement a ban on plastic stemmed cotton buds and to introduce a deposit return scheme for bottles and cans.

Banffshire & Buchan Coast MSP Stewart Stevenson said:

"I'm pleased to be joining the Marine Conservation Society and other volunteers at Banff on Saturday to take part in the beach clean.

"Looking after our environment is important and the issue of plastic in our seas is becoming ever more serious. As well as being a practical way to clean up the beach, MCS will also be surveying the litter which is collected, to enable more understanding of where it has come from, how far it may have travelled and, hopefully, provide more information on how we can counter this."

Banff & District councillor Glen Reynolds added:

"The beach clean activity at Greenbanks in Banff today, illustrated how every little can indeed help, to raise awareness surrounding the fragility of our beautiful coast and the problem over plastic contamination. I was hugely impressed by the school children as well as the adults, who took time to help in project Beachwatch - the UK's largest beach clean and litter survey!"

A spokesperson for the MCS said:

“It’s fantastic to see local MSP Stewart Stevenson joining us at Banff to support our Great British Beach Clean; it’s really important for decision-makers to see how much litter, especially plastic, makes its way on to our beaches. We hope that Stewart’s attendance at the Great British Beach Clean will encourage local constituents to join us for an eye-opening day on the beaches. It's vital that we all continue to work together to stop the tide of plastic in our oceans.”

This year, for the first time, the Great British Beach Clean will be sponsored by the Ocado Foundation, the charitable arm of the online supermarket. The Foundation will be sponsoring the event to the tune of £300,000 as part of the Environmental Pillar of its ‘Ocado Way 2020 Vision’.

Suzanne Westlake, Head of Corporate Responsibility & Corporate Affairs said on behalf of the Ocado Foundation:

“We're delighted to be teaming up with the Marine Conservation Society on the GBBC. It will be an amazing four-day event and one we are proud to be a part of.”