Elizabeth Cunnigham tells the Butler Hub about Green Comm’s successful beach clean at Seaham as part of SCA Week.
On Sunday 16th February, One Clean Meter, along with the SCA, helped organise a beach clean of Seaham Beach. It was fantastic to see Butler Green Comm. get involved, with plenty of Butler students present, including Butler Green Comm’s president Sam Winder!
With Seaham Beach only an hour’s bus ride away from Durham, it’s extremely convenient to get to. The beach clean itself was a wonderful way to give back to the local community and help out the environment a great deal whilst also spending the afternoon doing some worthwhile and feel-good summative procrastination.
Overall, more than 40 volunteers attended the event and around 66 bin bags of rubbish were collected from noon to 3:30pm. This is the second beach clean arranged this academic year and it was so impressive to see the wonderful increase in the number of volunteers, with the number more than quadrupling! On the other hand, it was shocking to see the sheer amount of rubbish picked up on the Seaham shore, and the bizarre variety as well. The rubbish collected ranged from rubber soles, crisp packets and other food and drink containers, to a massive dumped heavy rug hidden underneath the sand.
Equipped with litter-pickers, bin bags, gloves and unmissable in our high-vis jackets, all of the volunteers dispersed around the beach to try and find as much litter as possible. The majority of litter picked up consisted of washed up fishing nets, usually clumped on sticks and seaweed clumps. The issue with fishing nets is their strength and length; they get intertwined and knotted so easily, and are at times impossible to detangle. We could see how this is a massive issue for sea life, either as fish or larger sea animals may choke on them, or may be strangled by them if they get caught.
Furthermore, the harrowing observation many volunteers noticed was that often the rubbish blended so well with the pebbles, sand and seaweed that it was difficult to spot and tell them apart. With this came the realisation that if it’s hard for us humans to detect the differences given our impressive eyesight, how are sea creatures supposed to? Ultimately, the seemingly innocent and easy mistaken perception of a rubber tube for a string of seaweed may prove to be totally fatal for many sea creatures.
This beach clean has also shed light on how much more litter is currently in the sea that we have not observed and cleaned up, and how much damage has been done by humans, as well. Not only can this damage be observed in the presence of larger pieces of plastic and rubbish being found on the beach today, but also in the knowledge that harmful micro plastics dominate the sea water. I think I speak for all of the volunteers in saying that as we sat on the bus back to Durham, we felt accomplished and proud of the important work we’d done during the day, but also a bit disheartened in knowing it was just the tip of the iceberg in representing how polluted the sea really is. It is upsetting to think about the negative effect rubbish has on rich marine wildlife, the surrounding sea and in tainting beautiful shores like the Seaham Beach.
If you are keen to combat the negative effects of plastic, pollution and climate change (you really should be), follow the links below and get involved!!
Also shows your support for the Youth Strike 4 Climate at 11am this Friday 15th March in Market Square!
One Clean Meter (many thanks for the photographs!)
BUTLER HUB 