The plastic beach
With 20 tons of waste, is this the most choked coast in Scotland?
IT is miles from anywhere and surrounded on all sides by wilderness or open water.
But this small bay – one of Scotland’s most remote spots – has been spoiled by 20 tons of plastic waste.
The bay in Scourie, north-west Sutherland, has been branded the ‘plastic beach’ after campaigners found it contains the most plastic of all northern areas in a recent survey.
Geophysicist Dr Julien Moreau, of campaign group PlasticAtBay, surveyed three metres (10ft) of coastline – and collected 30 bags of waste weighing a staggering 350lb (159kg).
Based on these findings, he estimates that the 300m (980ft) beach has 20 tons of waste – about twice the weight of two large elephants. In his small sample area, Dr Moreau picked up more than 100 bottles, 200 crisp or confectionary wrappers, more than 1,000 pieces of plastic up to 1in in size and nearly 400 bits of plastic between 1in and 20in.
He also cleared 150 pieces of fishing net, 100 shotgun cartridges and other rubbish.
The photographs highlight the importance of the Scottish Daily Mail’s campaign to help turn the tide on the plastic that is polluting our environment.
Dr Moreau, from Durness, Sutherland, said: ‘There are years of pollution [at Scourie beach].
‘In many places you cannot walk on soil or rock, just plastic. It has largely become a plastic beach.
‘It is the most plastic-ridden beach per metre I have surveyed in the north.
‘It is not easily accessible and is in a position where currents and wind conditions constantly bring a tide of plastic to its shore.’ He added: ‘The production of plastic is still growing exponentially – and the results are starkly shown in an eyesore and polluting microcosm at Scourie.’
Dr Moreau is hoping to organise a clean-up at the beach in a few months and expects to fill ‘seven skips’ with waste.
His survey comes as research from Greenpeace shows that twothirds of Scottish seas are contaminated with microplastics.
The findings, published on Wednesday, state that the most shocking discoveries were in remote northern areas. Greenpeace UK oceans campaigner Tisha Brown said: ‘You speak to the locals and they have been working quite hard and doing their own beach cleans, then next week it just washes back up.’
Greenpeace says ocean plastic is a double threat – it can be ingested by animals so enters the food chain, while microplastics also carry chemical contamination from industrial processes.
Dr Moreau said: ‘For langoustines, one of the most important sources of income in the NorthWest of Scotland, 83 per cent of sampled animals contained plastics in their guts.’
He added: ‘Soon some people will start to refuse to eat fish from here. People will be put off by beaches where one has to walk over metres of ropes and nets in the “wildest” places of Scotland.’