BEXHILL ENVIRONMENTAL GROUP
Pollution Awareness Talk
Cleaner Rivers, Cleaner Seas
by
Andy Dinsdale
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BEG Pollution Awareness Talk - Cleaner Rivers, Cleaner Seas
Bexhill Environmental Group held their latest pollution awareness talk at Beulah Church Hall on Wednesday 3rd July. Almost 50 visitors came to hear local conservationist and educator Andy Dinsdale describe the current state of local marine pollution through his research and involvement with numerous beach and river cleans. His talk would emphasize the importance in collecting data on litter and highlight issues with plastics.
Andy's knowledge of marine pollution grew after he found lots of seed pods washed up along our coast. He discovered many of these pods had fallen into rivers from tropical American plants, flowed into the Atlantic Ocean where the Gulf Stream transported them across to Europe. This helped show that pollution in rivers anywhere in the world may eventually find its way into oceans across the globe. Hence, we need to keep rivers clean if we are to reduce pollution in the ocean. Researchers believe almost 80% of pollution found at sea is first deposited on land. Many plastics take hundreds of years to decompose and often break down into small pieces which some wildlife mistake as food. Plastic floating in the sea may absorb toxins from the water so cannot be recycled into other plastic. The French web site Wikidechets is widely used to record ocean plastic litter.
Andy has formed two community groups; “Strandliners” and “Rye Bay Beachcombing” to positively fight marine pollution. He learned that if data are recorded on marine pollution all around our shores and rivers, we can build a more informed picture of pollution levels and perhaps locate the source and take steps to reduce future occurrence. The beach litter surveys run by the Marine Conservation Society are widely used to record data on pollution. Andy explained that lots of HP ink cartridges were washed up on the Cornish coast 2 years ago. The advent of social media came into play and lots of people visiting the coast were reporting seeing cartridges on Facebook etc. The authorities investigated and found a shipping container full of HP ink cartridges had been lost at sea. HP admitted to the loss and helped pay to clean up the beaches. Marine insurance figures suggest that approximately 1000 containers are lost at sea each year.
Andy showed pictures of litter collected from local coasts and rivers to show the magnitude of the problem including large numbers of fishing line, wet wipes, balloons, bottle tops, shot gun cartridges, cotton buds and cigarette lighters. A litter survey along the river Cuckmere found lots of plastic nurdles - the pre-production plastic particles up to 5mm.
Andy recommends people join litter recording projects such as those run by Strandliners or the Marine Conservation Society to record pollution found in our rivers and beaches to help paint a bigger picture of what is happening in our seas. To help reduce future pollution, he recommends we take our own shop re-useable bag, avoid plastic packaging and have our own re-useable bottle and cup for drinking. The public are encouraged to take part in the next national beach litter survey during Sept 20th to 23rd.
Bexhill Environmental Group held their latest pollution awareness talk at Beulah Church Hall on Wednesday 3rd July. Almost 50 visitors came to hear local conservationist and educator Andy Dinsdale describe the current state of local marine pollution through his research and involvement with numerous beach and river cleans. His talk would emphasize the importance in collecting data on litter and highlight issues with plastics.
Andy's knowledge of marine pollution grew after he found lots of seed pods washed up along our coast. He discovered many of these pods had fallen into rivers from tropical American plants, flowed into the Atlantic Ocean where the Gulf Stream transported them across to Europe. This helped show that pollution in rivers anywhere in the world may eventually find its way into oceans across the globe. Hence, we need to keep rivers clean if we are to reduce pollution in the ocean. Researchers believe almost 80% of pollution found at sea is first deposited on land. Many plastics take hundreds of years to decompose and often break down into small pieces which some wildlife mistake as food. Plastic floating in the sea may absorb toxins from the water so cannot be recycled into other plastic. The French web site Wikidechets is widely used to record ocean plastic litter.
Andy has formed two community groups; “Strandliners” and “Rye Bay Beachcombing” to positively fight marine pollution. He learned that if data are recorded on marine pollution all around our shores and rivers, we can build a more informed picture of pollution levels and perhaps locate the source and take steps to reduce future occurrence. The beach litter surveys run by the Marine Conservation Society are widely used to record data on pollution. Andy explained that lots of HP ink cartridges were washed up on the Cornish coast 2 years ago. The advent of social media came into play and lots of people visiting the coast were reporting seeing cartridges on Facebook etc. The authorities investigated and found a shipping container full of HP ink cartridges had been lost at sea. HP admitted to the loss and helped pay to clean up the beaches. Marine insurance figures suggest that approximately 1000 containers are lost at sea each year.
Andy showed pictures of litter collected from local coasts and rivers to show the magnitude of the problem including large numbers of fishing line, wet wipes, balloons, bottle tops, shot gun cartridges, cotton buds and cigarette lighters. A litter survey along the river Cuckmere found lots of plastic nurdles - the pre-production plastic particles up to 5mm.
Andy recommends people join litter recording projects such as those run by Strandliners or the Marine Conservation Society to record pollution found in our rivers and beaches to help paint a bigger picture of what is happening in our seas. To help reduce future pollution, he recommends we take our own shop re-useable bag, avoid plastic packaging and have our own re-useable bottle and cup for drinking. The public are encouraged to take part in the next national beach litter survey during Sept 20th to 23rd.