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Well, we are going to do it, a coastal clean up 21st Jul 2018! With support from the Plymouth City Council, the Royal Navy and the Plymouth Beach Clean Volunteers we are going to fulfil part of our remit as Ambassadors for Plastic Free Plymouth (remember, this is all about ditching the use of single-use plastics, not our kayaks!).
So if you can, set the day aside to join the PPCA recreation paddle, join in with other like minded folk, help clean up a segment of our coast line from marine pollution!
Lets do our bit to clean up our local paddling area, the beautiful Plymouth Sound.
Further details will be pushed out closer to the date.
Please support this Club initiative.
Coastal Clean Up Paddle Sat 21st Jul 2018
Introduction
Earlier this year the PPCA became an ‘Ambassador’ for the campaign group ‘Plastic Free Plymouth Waterfront’ (PFPW). This group were successful in gaining accreditation with Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) as Plymouth being the countries first ‘Plastic Free Coastline City’. PFPW managed to get over 55 businesses & local community groups (eg PPCA) to do whatever they could to either reduce/eliminate the use of single-use plastics (straws, cups etc) or commit to clean up marine pollution/general litter. Hence the PPCA, as an Ambassador, we will commit to a Coastal Clean Up paddle to collect marine pollution on Sat 21 Jul 2018. Our clean-up will be slightly different, thanks to support from the Royal Navy and Plymouth City Council we will be using re-usable/recycling equipment!
General Outline
1. Meet as normal ready to be on the water at 1000hrs.
2. General paddle safety brief followed by a ‘Litter Pick’ safety brief. Here all paddlers (including those in open canoes) will be issued a re-usable net bag (provided by the Royal Navy) which you get to keep, plus gloves (provided by Plymouth City Council), you can use your own gloves if you wish. We will also have a number of hand operated ‘litter pickers’ (again provided by the Council) which you can use if you wish. Those people paddling open canoes will collect green recycling bags (again provided by the Council), more about these in a mo.
3. We will then, as a group, paddle to Fort Bovisand beach. From here we will form small groups, but staying close together, we will make our way back towards Mount Batten Beach (MBB) stopping within coves, on beaches etc, and collect whatever marine pollution we can get to. The pollution goes into your net, the net can be left loose on your spray deck or in any other safe manner which won’t impede your safety.
4. Once you have collected enough litter in your net you paddle over to an open canoe and transfer the contents into a green recycling bag, then off you go again hunting litter.
5. We continue in this hunt for pollution heading for MBB aiming to be there for approx. 1300hrs.
6. At approx. 1230hrs Plymouth Beach Clean Volunteers (PBCL, a Face Book campaign group), approx. 5 – 10 people, will commence their beach clean of MBB.
7. Once we land at MBB we will meet up with PBCL and an Official from the Council, bring ashore our collected litter in the green recycling bags and have a photo opportunity. On completion we move the waste to the top of the steps leading to the beach, return the ‘litter pickers’ and unused recycling bags, which will all be collected by the Council shortly after and taken to their recycling facility.
8. We will either carry our boats from the beach back to the sheds or paddle around, we will decide on the day.
Final thought: As always on the water the weather will be a major influence on what we actually do on the day, safety will not be compromised.
Note: We may be joined on the paddle by a BBC News reporter, or they may meet us on the beach, their involvement will depend on what else of note is happening on the day.
Well, we only went and done it! To all those who took part in our Coastal Clean Up paddle can I say a huge ‘THANK YOU’, nay, can I say, as the Norwegians would, ‘Tusen Tak’, a 1000 Thank you’s!! What a brilliant turn-out, Terry Calcott you are a star for agreeing to lead the trip, the open boaters, with out your presence our haul of treasure would have been significantly less! Great to see so much enthusiasm, and great to see how much pollution we have removed from our beautiful coastline. A thank you for others who in some way supported the event, Plymouth City Council, Plymouth Beach Clean Volunteers and the Royal Navy!
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