Blackness beach included in FORTHSHORE clean up event

The event, organised by Scottish seaweed company SHORE and Tom Rawson of GreenTweed Eco, saw 345 volunteers, young and old, clean up beaches along the 80 mile stretch of shore between Stirling and Berwick.

The litter picking took place over two weekends at the end of March and beginning of April.

Volunteers from schools, rotary clubs and members of the public collected over 100 full bags of rubbish, plus tyres, wire, mesh and nets from the beaches.

Keith Paterson, SHORE co-founder, said: “We were thrilled to host our first FORTHSHORE beach cleaning event.

"At SHORE our coastal environment is not just a passion of ours, it’s the home and incubator for our seaweed business.

"We were excited to have so many volunteers support us over the course of two weeks.

"It’s rewarding not only to help make an impact, but also to build awareness of the coastal environment in new generations.”

Tom Rawson, of GreenTweed Eco, added: “Our beaches are a barometer for the health of our oceans and we were very happy to leave a long stretch of coastline in a far better condition than we found it.

"With over 100 bags of rubbish removed, we can be pleased that this debris has been removed from the marine ecosystem forever.”

As well as Blackness, volunteers cleaned the beaches at Queensferry, Cramond, Portobello, Longniddry, Yellowcraigs, North Berwick, Tyninghame, Coldingham, Eyemouth, Berwick and Scremerston.