Award winning Largs environmental campaigner Sorcha Cantwell has said that her efforts to clean up Scotland’s beaches has received support from around the world, as she highlights the dangers of marine plastic within our seas in her latest column for the Largs and Millport Weekly News...

"It has been quite some time since I last wrote an article. Back then I was about to embark on a journey around the north and west coasts of Scotland, cleaning beaches as I went to raise awareness of the damage marine plastics are having on our environment. So, in August, I packed up my little car and headed north with nothing but a tent and hopes for reasonable weather.

The journey turned out to be demanding, both physically and emotionally, and the weather definitely did not cooperate, but I did meet some fantastic people on my travels who I will always treasure as friends.

With the topic of marine plastics going viral since 'Blue Planet 2' aired, people are now realising what a massive negative impact we are having on our oceans with over 8 million tons of plastic being dumped into them annually. I set up a Facebook blog page to allow people see the reality of the plastic pollution issue that we face in Scotland and now have followers from all over the globe.

Starting in Durness, I then moved to Oldshoremore, Stoer, Dun Canna, Leckmelm and finally home, all the while managing to haul over 500kg of plastics from the Scottish coastline. I was interviewed on North Highland Radio and was featured in both local and national press. Prior to starting this project, I thought I had a fair idea of the impact of marine plastics on our coastlines, but the problem goes far deeper than I initially considered.

I encountered the usual things on my beach cleans: hundreds of plastic bottles, bags, cotton bud sticks, food packaging, lost fishing gear, car parts and all manner of household plastic waste. But what I also found was that once you remove the top layer, the soil itself, the dunes, the sand, is becoming plastic.

Plastic is breaking down into smaller and smaller pieces and becoming a toxic mash of natural and non-natural fibres which is incredibly difficult to remove from the environment. These micro-plastics are working their way into the food chain with tragic effects on our wildlife and unknown effects on us.

The primary aim of my project is to demonstrate that it is possible to make a difference as an individual. That every bit of plastic that you take from the shoreline, every bottle you recycle, every bit of plastic you replace with an alternative, every one of these actions has a positive impact that contributes towards the turn against the plastic tide.

By the end of my trip I had gathered over 500KG of marine plastic, North Highland Radio had interviewed me and interest in the project had grown. I was awarded “Hero of the Month” in October by Keep Scotland Beautiful for my environmental work and had coverage in both local and national press.

Fast forward to today, I’m now at a running total of 1081.5kg. In January I visited Scottish Parliament to speak with both Claudia Beamish and Roseanna Cunningham (Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform) about marine plastic pollution and was publicly thanked during First Ministers Questions. In the same week doing a public talk on Marine Plastics at the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme Forum in Inverness. In April I’m travelling to Bergen, Norway to take part in a Big Beach Clean event and conference, meeting with environmental activists and action groups from around the world.

There are so many positive things happening that I can’t begin to list them all, but the message is getting louder and people are starting to listen and as long as I can physically do this, I will. I’m still doing beach cleans on my days off, If you see me trudging the shoreline, do give me a wave or a beep and I’m always happy to have a chat. For more updates you can also keep an eye on the Scottish Coastal Cleanup Project page on Facebook.

You don’t need to lift a ton of plastic to make a big difference. A few changes in behaviours is all it takes. There are more and more beach cleaning groups that you can join springing up around Scotland doing fantastic work to keep their local shores clean. Take a bag and gloves with you on your own walks and pick up a few bits of plastic on your way. If you aren’t able to pick up plastics directly, you could help by reducing the amount of single use plastics that you use day to day or finding non plastic alternatives for single use items.

In the words of my hero and life-long inspiration Sir David Attenborough “The cost of doing nothing is enormously greater than the cost of doing something”