Scottish Coastal Clean Up's ongoing battle to preserve Scottish beaches!

Scottish Coastal Clean Up, was inspired during lockdown when Tommy Dale, CEO of Caledonian Horticulture, found a guillemot entangled in a tartan face mask!

This led to Caledonian Horticulture organising the Big Beach Clean event for World Ocean Day, bringing together groups and individuals to tackle litter along the coastline from Berwickshire to Edinburgh. The now yearly event, revealed both the scale of the problem and the strength of collective action, leading to the creation of Scottish Coastal Clean Up (SCCU), the flagship project of the charity Balanced Horizon. 

I met Tommy in late 2020 on a beach while completing a post-lockdown adventure: walking 100 miles around the Firth of Forth coastline, beach cleaning, and connecting with other beach cleaners along the way. We stayed in touch, and after I told him about my experience of beach cleaning on the Isle of Ulva, where I saw shocking amounts of marine litter, he was eager to gather a group of volunteers to see how we could help.

In autumn 2022, twelve of us travelled to Ulva for three days of non-stop beach cleaning. With the incredible support of two local wildlife companies and the local fish farm, we managed to remove all the collected rubbish from the island using their boats. The experience gave us a clear understanding of the sheer scale of marine pollution and the challenges of removing it. On Ulva, boats are the only viable way to transport the waste off the island; a challenge we’ve since found is common across the west coast and islands.

Image: Clearing rope off Ulva September 2024

In 2023, SCCU participated in a multi-organisation beach cleaning event across Skye, Eigg, Canna, Rum, Muck, and Coll. Organised by the Scottish Islands Federation Marine Litter Working Group and supported by the Ocean Recovery Project, the initiative recycled nearly 2 tonnes of fishing nets and ropes, much of which was transformed into plant pots by Glasgow-based Ocean Plastic Pots. Our role was to access parts of Skye’s coastline by boat and collect the gathered rubbish. Our first stop revealed the worst-affected beach for marine litter I have ever seen, and we ended up spending three days removing around 2 tonnes of waste, marking just the beginning of our ongoing beach cleaning efforts in this area.

Later that year, four of us returned to that beach and beach cleaned for 24 hours straight as part of a fundraising effort to purchase a Pioner Multi landing craft boat. Staggeringly, we were able to remove 4 tonnes of rubbish over the 24 hour period, most of which was rope and net. We also managed to purchase our boat Curlew soon after! 

Image: Curlew full of creels in East Lothian November 2024

Over the past two years, Scottish Coastal Clean Up has helped to remove an estimated 55 tonnes of rubbish off Scottish Beaches, from remote beaches on Lewis to busy beaches in East Lothian, where we are based.

Scotland's coastline is cared for by numerous dedicated groups and individuals, many of whom volunteer their time to beach cleaning. Collaboration with these communities, landowners, and other organisations is vital for us, as it combines their local expertise with our volunteers to tackle more challenging cleanups. We’re increasingly seeing groups and communities across Scotland joining forces, sharing best practices and coordinating efforts to maximize impact. However, limited higher-level support, especially in funding, makes it difficult to address the vast scale of marine pollution. Despite our progress, including removing large amounts of waste and using our boat for cleanups, we are still only scratching the surface of the issue.

Image: 24 hour beach clean on June 2023

Since Storm Babet in October 2023, SCCU has led a large-scale cleanup of creels washed ashore. In East Lothian alone, we’ve removed over 14 tonnes of damaged creels. This effort required close collaboration with coastal landowners to secure beach access and coordinate removal using a mix of volunteers, the local ranger service and equipment generously provided by farmers and golf courses. The operation has been challenging due to many of the locations and the sheer weight of the creels and the success of this effort depended on countless volunteer hours, the goodwill of local landowners, and their donated time and resources.

The work we do is entirely dependent on the funding we secure, often from an increasingly small and competitive pool. For this particular cleanup, the combined costs from all parties involved have most likely reach thousands of pounds. Despite this, there has been little to no support from the local fishing industry and no clear legislative framework to determine who is responsible, both physically and financially, for removing and disposing of large-scale items like this.

If the responsibility for cleaning up Scotland's coastlines continues to fall solely on third-sector organisations and community groups, it is vital that these groups receive far more comprehensive support across all areas. Marine pollution, and the environmental damage it causes, cannot be tackled effectively without greater accountability from the industries that contribute to it. 

These sectors need to not only take steps to prevent marine pollution from entering our waters but also play an active role in supporting and funding cleanup initiatives. 

The issue of marine litter is not something that will resolve itself, in fact, it only grows more severe. Immediate action is necessary to remove as much waste as possible from our beaches before it degrades into microplastics. At the same time, support is needed for the proper disposal of collected waste, particularly in more rural areas, where logistics can pose significant challenges. Additionally, Scotland needs robust, accessible recycling schemes that support groups working in remote locations, ensuring that the waste collected can be processed effectively and sustainably. 

Despite the challenges, our work continues to make a real impact, thanks to the dedication of volunteers and communities. Every cleanup makes a tangible difference, and we do this because we care about the future of Scotland’s beautiful coastal areas and want to ensure a cleaner, healthier coastline for the wildlife that call it home and for generations to come.