Litter ranging from a chemical toilet to drums full of oil and even the odd hairbrush have been collected by volunteers in Knoydart.
Beach cleaning on the Knoydart peninsula, one of Britain’s most remote stretches of coastline, has revealed the full extent of marine litter in our seas. Over the past month work parties of volunteers for the Friends of Knoydart and the John Muir Trust have recovered the equivalent of over 300 large plastic bags of rubbish from 3.5 kilometres of coastline between Sandaig & Doune on the west of Knoydart. This is the first time that this area has been cleared of litter.
The volunteers found several hundred large plastic items including: over 200 fish boxes, remains of a catamaran, two boat hulls, wheels, fishing nets, buoys, wheelie bin, a public litter bin, one chemical toilet and between forty and fifty oil drums filled with discarded engine oil from fishing vessels. Smaller items included hundreds of plastic bottles, a pair of trainers, a carburetor, a message in a bottle, hair rollers, half a lemon, 2 big ropes, footballs, a broom and a pack of Henry Winterman cigars that won’t light.
“We were absolutely astonished at the sheer scale of rubbish on such a remote spot,” commented Sandy Maxwell, Conservation Activities Co-ordinator for the John Muir Trust. “It is a graphic illustration of just how much marine litter is in the sea. Situated on the south west of the Knoydart Peninsula this stretch of coastline must be a prime catchment area for boat traffic in and around the Minch.”
The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) estimates that beach litter has increased by as much as 80% over the past 10 years. Worldwide, there are an average 46,000 pieces of plastic litter in every square mile of ocean. Globally it is estimated that over a million birds and 100,000 marine mammals die every year from entanglement, or ingestion of plastics. Certain types of plastic are also known to absorb toxic chemicals from their environment, resulting in concentrations up to one million times higher than in ocean water.
“It is sickening to think that even the most far flung corners of this island are not free from litter and pollution.” added Maxwell. “Leaving the problem to coastal communities to clear up is not the answer – we need to see far stricter management of the seas in the up coming Marine Bill.”
The coast line between Sandaig & Doune is not accessible by road so all of the rubbish has been collated into large piles, to be ferried off by boat in the next few weeks. It is estimated that it will take a least ten boat loads to clear it.
“The Knoydart Foundation Ranger Service is extremely grateful for the hard work and selfless effort put into the beach cleaning by the Friends of Knoydart and John Muir Trust volunteers,” commented Ranger Tommy McManmon. “The area of coastline in question is extremely remote and one of the least-visited areas of the peninsula. The clean-up means that a special area will be restored to a condition in which visitors and locals can enjoy a feeling of wildness and solitude.”
“The next stage of removing the rubbish to somewhere it can be collected by the local authority will be logistically difficult, but we have been hugely helped in this area by a generous donation from a Friend of Knoydart. The local authority has also been very helpful with offering use of a local landing craft for this task.”