On Sunday 27th October, more than 20 towns and villages across the Scottish Borders joined together to help clear rubbish from six different rivers on the Tweed system. The Great Borders River clean involved over 300 volunteers collecting a whopping 1,850kg of rubbish in just under two hours. Interesting finds included car parts, road signs, childrens' toys......even a wig! There were, of course, a number of shopping trolleys! However, the most frequently recorded items were wet wipes. People of all ages took part In the Great Borders River Clean.
Mr Tom Rawson, the teacher from St. Mary's School, Melrose who organised the clean explained;
'Plastic pollution is a global issue. We are the cause of it and it is our problem to solve. We have all seen images of the beaches in Bali covered in rubbish or albatross chicks in the South Atlantic feeding plastic pieces to their chicks but how often do we look to see the damage done to our own streams and rivers? We need to realise that plastic pollution affects us all. The Great Borders River Clean and preceding 7Towns1River event have removed over 4 tons of rubbish from the Tweed system but we are just scratching the surface of this insidious problem. Despite the success of the clean, I would like to do everything in my power to continue to keep this issue in the public eye and to help spread the message that concerted community effort can start to turn the tide on this blight on our rivers and waterways. With this in mind, I will be repeating the successful project so wonderfully demonstrated by the amazing people of the Scottish Borders on the Tweed system in the Spring and starting a parallel project on the Tay system."
You can see the ITV coverage here.