Community collaboration for Bracadale Beach Blitz
During May, Katy, Community Development Officer for Skye, Lochalsh and Ross-shire was thrilled to be part of a successful collaborative effort to remove marine litter and debris from various beaches around Loch Bracadale. Over three days, the community came together to focus on cleaning remote and inaccessible areas along the coastline. Together they cleared approximately 5 tonnes of marine plastic contamination from seven beaches around the loch.
Local knowledge combined with access to specialist resources made the clean up so effective. Local fisherman shared insight to locations with significant litter deposit and a drone pilot from the community surveyed the area so that efforts could be concentrated. The Scottish Coastal Clean Up utilised their boat, The Curlew, to provide access to remote beaches and ferry bags of debris to skips for collection.
The team of nearly 25 volunteers, both local and from supporting groups across Scotland, dedicated a total of 362.5 hours to removing marine litter - mainly plastic, rope and netting - from beaches at Ardtreck, Struanmore, Ullinish, Oronsay, Ose Point, Caroy and Harlosh. The recovered plastic and netting has been taken away for recycling by Keep Britain Tidy’s Ocean Recovery Project, and a number of items are going to be re-used.
To emphasis how litter affects marine life, an Open House was held in Struan to display the community’s efforts and repurpose the collected litter into artwork and rope mats. On display was the 15kg of mainly plastic litter which was removed from the stomach of the sperm whale which recently stranded on Raasay.
The success of the beach clean was made possible by the partnerships which supported the effort. The Scottish Costal Clean Up and their boat proved valuable in accessing remote locations, and the connections of Skye Beach Cleans enabled the local community to get involved. The Scottish Islands Federation and the Ocean Recovery Project coordinated the recycling collection and MyGroup were responsible for transforming the litter into usable materials. To collect the litter, Mowi set up a base for operations with their industrial skip and the Highland Council supported by providing a skip free of charge. At the Open House, The Scottish Entanglement Alliance highlighted how marine litter threatens cetaceans and Floor to Shore demonstrated how to create recycling mats from items found on the beach. The Hub was delighted to provide support through planning and advertising efforts.
Bracadale Beach Blitz 2025 showcased how Skye’s community is committed to improving their coastal health.
