Portrait of a proud river reduced to a rubbish tip
IN the war against rubbish, this once-proud river choked with waste is the front line.
Plastic bags, bottles and even a polyester jacket litter the surface and the banks of the Clyde.
The build-up was so dense at one section, next to the Renfrew Ferry in Glasgow city centre, that a specialist boat had to clear the surface of debris.
Some of the waste may have been thrown into the water, while other litter will have been blown and washed in from surrounding streets. Campaigners have warned bottles, tubs and wrappers are almost as common as ‘willows and reeds’ in parts of some rivers.
The pictures highlight the importance of the Great British Spring Clean – organised by Keep Britain Tidy and backed by the Daily Mail – which is supported by Prime Minister Theresa May, Prince William and even the United Nations.
From March 22 until April 23, organisers hope to get half a million citizens out recycling the rubbish that is making parts of Britain look like a tip.
By last night, an incredible 438,495 people had signed up to join the effort – 284,304 adults and 154,191 children.
The Daily Mail has long campaigned against single-use plastic bags and plastic microbeads in cosmetics, which contribute to our pollution problem.
The photos of the litter-strewn Clyde come only days after images showing Scots wildlife surrounded by plastic rubbish. The pictures taken at Strathclyde Park, near Motherwell, Lanarkshire, included a duck gliding through South Calder Water while plastic bottles, footballs and various other detritus drifts behind.
All of the pictures were taken in the past month to document how British rivers are being polluted by plastic litter which threatens wildlife and blots the landscape.
But the blight upon waterways is not confined to Scotland.
Locals encountered a similar scene in Manchester yesterday as an old sofa, a fridge, plastic bottles, aluminium kegs and polystyrene takeaway boxes clogged up the Salford Quays, a stone’s throw from the BBC’s Media City television complex.
Salford City Councillor David Lancaster said: ‘The rubbish has not got there accidentally – it’s been dumped into the rivers and canal. It’s very disappointing.’
Water samples will be collected from rivers across Britain, including the Clyde, as part of a nationwide study into microplastic pollution levels. The research is being carried out by Greenpeace and the University of Exeter.
Fiona Nicholls, plastics campaigner for Greenpeace UK, has said: ‘More frightening facts seem to emerge about plastic pollution every month.
‘It’s in our water, our food, the air – it’s polluting the most remote parts of our planet.
‘If we carry on with business as usual plastic production is set to quadruple by 2050.
‘It’s clear our rivers and oceans simply can’t stomach this.’
The Great British Spring Clean starts tomorrow.
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