Military in firing line over plastic rubbish
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Clean up campaigners have been shocked by the huge amount of military plastic on a Sutherland beach.
More than 720 lbs of plastic rubbish – mainly old military flares – has been collected by volunteers.
The Durness-based Plastic@Bay organisation swept the Old Grudie, an area at the tip of the Kyle of Durness.
It is near the Cape Wrath military range – which is closed 120 days of the years for war games.
In fact the second bi-annual major Exercise Joint Warrior is due to begin later this month.
But years of rubbish from the war games staggered the clean-up team of seven.
“We collected a massive 327 kg (720.9lbs). Pollution in the this area is made up of three types of litter - flare and parachutes fragments from years of Ministry of Defence manoeuvres on Cape Wrath, this made up the bulk of the collection,” said a group spokesman.
“There were also hundreds of buoy fragments.
“Recent numerical simulations indicated that a lot of plastic should be transiting in this area and we wanted to check if the prediction were correct.
“It turns out that it was beyond expectation, there is probably 10 times what we collected to remove from this hard-to-reach area.”
The group try to recycle the nylon fishing lines and gill nets in its Plastic Lab.
The buoys will be made into soap dishes for sale in their workshop.
Plastic@Bay previously received nearly £12,000 to purchase an electric quad bike and trailer, which helped remove the rubbish.
The money has come from FLAG (Highland and Moray Fisheries Local Action Group). Ironically much of the plastic waste Plastic@Bay collects is discarded fishing gear.
In its first year Plastic@Bay collected nearly a staggering 5000lbs of plastic from just one of the north’s most beautiful beaches.
The organisation is headed by geophsyicist Dr Julien Moreau.
Campaigners clearing tons of plastic from the far north’s beaches have also been awarded £65,000 for a unique marine recycling centre – believed to be the first of its type in Scotland.
Thanks to the money from SSE’s Sustainable Development Fund the Marine Plastic Recycling Centre is based in Durness.
Marine plastic pollution washed up on local beaches is recycled into useful objects for resale, such as clocks.
