Torness team support Great British Beach Clean

A recent beach clean, carried out by Torness power station staff, has highlighted the problem of plastic waste on East Lothian beaches.

A team of eleven people from the site spent a day removing rubbish from both Thortonloch and Skateraw beaches.

The activity took place during the Great British Beach Clean, a campaign run by the Marine Conservation Society. As well as collecting rubbish the Torness volunteers collected data on the types of litter found. This information will help the Society better understand the sources of marine debris on the UK’s beaches.

Data collected from previous beach cleans has already been used to make a positive impact on our ocean, including the introduction of the plastic bag charge, banning microplastics in personal care products, improved wet wipe labelling, and supporting a tax on single-use plastic items.

Despite this progress, however, 86% of the litter found on the beaches near Torness during the clean-up was plastic. This included bottles, bags, and lids.

It is hoped that these proactive measures will prevent the rubbish being washed out to sea and endangering some of the area’s best-loved wildlife.

The site’s environmental lead, Clare Galloway, said: “The volunteers had a busy day collecting litter. It was disheartening to see how much there was, especially the amount of plastic waste, which we know is so harmful to the environment. 

“We removed a significant amount of rubbish which will now be disposed of properly. We even went beyond the area we had agreed to survey and removed fishing tackle and traffic cones to improve the beach environment for wildlife and local people.”