Dismay as beach plastic ‘flytipped’ near airport

Tons of beach plastic picked up by volunteers could end up in landfill after Argyll and Bute Council ‘flytipped’ it on land next to Oban Airport at North Connel.

Fishing nets, fishfarm pipes and packaging are among the haul cleared from remote coastlines and elsewhere across North Lorn.

Organisers behind the clean-ups were gutted to discover the plastic, previously stored at the council’s Mill Park depot and part of a long-term project to have it recycled, had been dumped.

Two caged-council trucks were spotted tipping it on land used by the council’s roads department more than two weeks ago, attracting complaints from people in the area about flytipping.

Work on the £1.4 million redevelopment of Oban’s new council depot at Jackson’s Quarry, freeing up land at the Mill Park site for new business and industry opportunities, meant the plastic had to be shifted.

An Argyll and Bute Council spokesperson said the council had supported volunteers by storing the debris for them until they could move it on for recycling.

‘Work at Jackson’s Quarry means our normal storage spaces are full, which is why we moved it to North Connel. We had hoped to have a container, but unfortunately one was not available,’ she said.

The spokesperson added: ‘Our thanks go to the volunteers who give up their time to remove plastic pollution from our beautiful beaches.’

But volunteers responsible for collecting the plastic waste, including Janie Steele from the developing environmental social venture Footprint Alba, are now left with a dilemma. They have until December 17 to move it from North Connel.

‘We are desperate for it not to go to landfill but somehow we need to find the transport to get it to the Central Belt, where a process for recycling this waste material is in development. Ideally, we need someone with empty lorries who would take it for us,’ said Janie, who is trying to selfsource a container to store it in the meantime.

‘Volunteers have spent hours cleaning up our coast, grading and sorting the plastic to save it from landfill. We are gutted this has happened. The council team at the local depot has been incredibly helpful, we cannot thank them enough for their assistance in storing various hauls for onward recycling. We’ve been working so hard to get it back into the value stream rather than landfill.

‘Even without the container, if it had been placed in a reasonable fashion at North Connel rather than just being senselessly dumped, it would have been clear to people it was not flytip waste,’ added Janie.

Anyone who can help transport the waste to the Central Belt should contact janie@ footprintalba.org.uk