Beach clean group shocked at extent Ministry of Defence debris
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Clean-up campaigners have been shocked by the huge amount of military plastic on a Sutherland beach.
More than 670 lbs of plastic rubbish - mainly old military flares - have been collected by dedicated environmentalists.
The Durness-based Plastic@Bay organisation swept the Old Grudie, an area at the tip of the Kyle of Durness and close to the Cape Wrath military range - which is closed 120 days of the years for war games.
The second bi-annual major Exercise Joint Warrior was recently held partly at Cape Wrath.
But the rubbish from war games has staggered the clean-up team.
“With the help of six volunteers, we collected a whopping 306kg (674lb). Mostly parachute/flare fragments from Ministry of Defence manoeuvres on Cape Wrath,” said a spokesman.
Old Grudie is situated between the two rivers that feed the Kyle of Durness and has beautiful views of the Kyle, but unfortunately, it’s a bottleneck for plastic pollution.
“Parachute/flare/webbing from MoD manoeuvres get washed into the sea around Cape Wrath. These fragments are denser than water, they sink and get entangled in kelp.
“Plastic@Bay has spoken with MoD representatives about the ongoing problem of pollution caused by debris from MoD manoeuvres, particularly around Old Grudie, Kyle of Durness, and in Balankeil Bay.
We are now aware that MoD has started doing beach cleans around Cape Wrath. Yet, we are still finding new parachutes and flares, as well as the never-ending supply of historical debris. We will keep an open dialogue with MoD to find solutions to this ongoing pollution problem.”
Conor Drummond, coastal ranger, added:”Worrying still was that these plastics were being removed from not only the beaches but also the dunes where they were embedded in the turf. The far side of Grudie still needs cleaned, and if this clean is to be indicative of what may be present on the far banks it is a horrid state of affairs.”
Plastic@Bay began in 2017 by holding beach cleans for Surfers Against Sewage.
Dr Julien Moreau of the group said clearing discarded plastic from some of the most stunning, but hard to reach, beaches in Scotland, was a “never ending challenge”.
The environmentalist recently abseiled more than 120 feet just to remove plastic waste from a remote beauty spot cove in Sutherland.
Dr Moreau even hauled a 25ft long fish farm pipe, and other assorted plastic from Aeden cove to the east of Faraid Head near Durness.
In total he removed around 50lbs of rubbish.
Marine plastic pollution washed up on local beaches is recycled by the group into useful objects for resale, such as clocks.
