TIME TO CLEAN UP OUR ACT
Melrose teacher Tom Rawson only set out to tidy up the banks of the River Tweed, but is now leading a nationwide battle against plastic pollution, with a little help from his school pupils, says Morag Bootland
Melrose teacher Tom Rawson and his pupils spearhead the fight against pollution along the Tweed
On a week when scientists have confirmed that the last decade was the warmest on record, as wild fires continue to cause death and devastation in Australia and Sir David Attenborough has stated that we have reached a climate ‘crisis moment’, a visit to the Scottish Borders has provided a glimmer of hope in these bleak times for our planet.
Tom Rawson is a teacher at St Mary’s School in the town of Melrose. He’s also the organiser of the Great Borders River Clean and 2019 Tweed Forum River Champion.
On 27 October last year over 300 volunteers from more than 20 towns and villages across the Borders cleared an incredible 1,850kg of rubbish in just two hours from six rivers on the Tweed system. This project and the preceding 7Towns1River event have removed well over four tons of rubbish from the Tweed and its tributaries. And with another clean planned for 29 February and 1 March this year, this figure is set to increase.
Tom’s inspiration for cleaning up the banks of the Tweed came from a beach clean at Peasebay in Berwickshire, organised by environmental charity Surfers Against Sewage (SAS). ‘It seemed weird to be working with a charity like SAS when Melrose is so far away from the sea,’ he says. ‘But there’s a real link between what happens here and what comes out of the River Tweed into the sea at Berwick-upon-Tweed.’
Working with the charity and the pupil’s at St Mary’s, Tom helped the school to become the first junior school in Scotland to be classified as plastic free. The pupils then contacted businesses across the town of Melrose who agreed to stop using many single-use plastics, like cups, stirrers and bottles, enabling the town to become one of the first in Scotland to receive the classification of plastic free from SAS.
‘It was fairly straightforward,’ says Tom. ‘But it took all of the businesses to decide to do it. We haven’t got rid of all plastics, but we’ve really cut down and it was a great project for the children.’
Tom admits that organising the river clean can be a bit like ‘herding cats’, but it’s clearly a labour of love. ‘The clean is really just people walking the river banks in their local town or village. We find a mix of rubbish, mainly domestic waste like plastic water bottles, shoes, cups and toys, but we also remove agricultural waste too – things like black silage bag plastic and feed buckets. We even found a wig last year! There’s some pretty grotty stuff. There are so many wet wipes because people just don’t understand you can’t flush them down the loo.
‘The main point is not so much clearing huge amounts of rubbish, it’s more about raising awareness of how people should be dealing with their rubbish. We need to make sure people realise that when they throw rubbish into the river it doesn’t just disappear around a corner and that’s it gone forever. It will persist in the environment for a very, very long time.
‘It’s so insidious, it can be right in front of you, but until you start looking for it it’s hard to imagine just how much plastic waste there is in the environment. Children love being involved because they get competitive and are desperate to be the one to find the next thing. The last time we did the clean we had a lot more children involved. That’s something that I’m keen to encourage.’
Following the support he’s garnered in the Borders, Tom is keen to replicate the success of the Tweed river clean in other areas of Scotland. He has the River Spey in his sights and hopes the idea could be exported to communities along Scotland’s fastest flowing river.
‘Our rivers are in crisis at the moment,’ he says. ‘We’re just trying to take some of the human load off the river. It’s certainly not something that you can turn a blind eye to. That’s why I’m so keen to expand to other areas.
‘There are so many environmental problems we are facing globally that it’s easy to become overwhelmed by what you see on the news. I want to show that it is possible to make a difference on a large scale if you just pick one and take action.’
If you’d like to be involved in the next Great Borders River Clean on 29 February and 1 March you can email Tom on Trawson@stmarysmelrose.org.uk or find him on Facebook or Instagram at greentweedeco.
“A visit to the Borders has provided a glimmer of hope in these bleak times for our planet