Scotland’s beaches are the dirtiest in the UK, according to a new report.
Environmental Standards Scotland (ESS) said on Tuesday that beaches in the country are worse for litter than those found in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The public body says that more must be done to clean up Scotland’s marine litter.
The most recent assessment of UK beaches found that there was a median of 919 items of litter found per 100 metres of shore in Scotland, compared with 585 per 100 metres in England, 258 in Northern Ireland, and 103 in Wales. The two Scots beaches included in the assessment were Cramond Beach in Fife and Lunderston Bay in Inverclyde, which had median litter counts of 558.5 and 1279 litter respectively.
According to ESS, Scotland’s beaches present a “significant danger” to marine wildlife such as dolphins and seals that can swallow plastic litter or become caught in fishing nets and ropes. A study carried out in Orkney showed that 80 per cent of marine life collected from the seagrass beds contained microplastics.
CEO of ESS Mark Roberts commented: “Marine litter is a problem in Scotland endangering our marine species, spoiling our beaches and introducing potentially harmful microplastics into the human food chain. The latest assessments show a failure to meet statutory targets designed to improve the situation.
“Today we are calling on the Scottish Government to embed a ‘source-to-sea’ approach to tackle the problem. This requires legislation and policy to be developed that considers the relationship between land and sea.
“Most marine litter comes from the land so we need to stop litter at its source, before it reaches the marine environment.”
The report also calls for increased monitoring of marine litter levels. According to ESS, there are “several limitations” to the way marine litter is currently tracked.
Roberts continued: “We are recommending that the Scottish Government work with the UK Government to agree a monitoring programme—underpinned by a statutory framework—to ensure future monitoring of marine litter is effective and resilient.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson added: “Scotland was the first country in the UK to implement a ban on some of the most commonly littered single-use plastic products, but it’s clear more needs to be done to move from our throw-away culture towards a more circular economy. Marine Litter is a shared global challenge which is why we continue to deliver new policy and legislation through our National Litter and Fly-tipping Strategy and Marine Litter Strategy to target the most problematic sources of litter, including improving waste management of end-of-life fishing gear and introducing legislation to ban the sale and supply of wet wipes containing plastic.
“The Circular Economy (Scotland) Act 2024 increases the powers available to the Government to take action on waste in Scotland, and we are also progressing with international efforts to address major pollution sources such as plastic pellets, and with our delivery partners to focus on litter pathways from source to sea, as well as supporting the removal of rubbish from our seas and beaches.”
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