Rubbish turns Ganavan beach into dump – again
Dumped bottles, a ripped dinghy, broken chairs, lilos, drink cans, take-out boxes and piles of clothing turned Oban’s best beach into a tip again at the weekend.
The heatwave brought out the worst behaviour in some beach goers who left the town’s beach and coastline, including towards Dunstaffnage, littered with debris.
Dougie Graham who runs Dougie Dans’ snack bar in big Ganavan car park turned up to work at 6am on Sunday morning to be met by a tsunami of waste following a busy Saturday.
He filled an abandoned dinghy with rubbish and had to go back for more. Another man helped him pick up broken glass from smashed bottles.
‘It’s just ignorance to leave rubbish on the beach. People are too lazy to bring it up to the big bins in the car park. It’s easy to blame youngsters but a lot of the stuff I picked up was left by adults and those with families. None of it was from what I sell. I have my own bins and people use them.
‘I’m from Oban and this is our most beautiful beach. I feel responsible for it, that’s why I clean it up. Argyll and Bute Council does its job but I think in the summer, especially when the weather’s hot, it needs to do more. More signs might help, as would more monitoring and patrols. Some bins on posts on the beach would be a good idea too.
‘Most concerning is the amount of broken glass that’s left where children run barefoot. It’s a serious problem,’ he said.
Photographs Dougie posted on his Facebook page of Sunday’s haul were met with outrage from others calling the culprits ‘mindless idiots’.
Some reported having seen teenagers with ‘booze’ at Ganavan on Saturday night. Others had been spotted camping.
One woman also posted: ‘It’s lovely that people, local and visitors, are using the beach in this fabulous weather but seriously I wonder what some of your homes look like! Clothes, beach chairs, bottles, plastic waste all just left behind. Would it kill you to walk a few feet to the bins and dispose of it?’
BID4Oban chief executive Andrew Spence told The Oban Times: ‘I was horrified to see the amount of litter left at beautiful Ganavan on Sunday morning. Certain individuals are not doing Oban any favours by leaving litter on and around the beach.
‘This is not the sort of advertising the town needs when so much effort goes in to encouraging people to visit this beautiful area.
‘There are litter bins provided by the council and Dougie. All credit to Dougie Dan who tirelessly keeps this area clean and litter free seven days a week.’
Hilary Barker who was visiting Ganavan from Callander contacted the Oban Times on Monday to praise a group of local youngsters celebrating the end-of-term who helped her in a spontaneous clean-up at the beach on Friday night.
‘It’s not very nice cleaning up other people’s rubbish, but better than leaving it to be blown and washed out to sea where it could bring a horrible death to sea birds, whales or turtles,’ she said.
An Argyll and Bute Council spokesperson said: ‘That anyone would choose to leave litter anywhere, let alone on an award-winning beach like Ganavan, is shameful. Bins at the beach are emptied every day, but in good weather they can fill up fast. When that is the case, people should take their litter away with them. In no circumstances is it acceptable to leave rubbish behind.’