Solway Shore Action

Solway Shore Action is the current Solway Firth Partnership project supported by the Scottish Government’s Marine Fund Scotland to achieve the ambition of 200 miles of cleaner coastline in Dumfries and Galloway by encouraging positive action.  The project supports and collaborates with beach clean groups who play an import role in removing buoyant marine litter that has been gathered by the Irish Sea and washed up on our shores.

Collective Action

By monitoring the plastics that wash up on our shore we can identify the places and activities that contribute to our plastic problem. Although the majority of plastic is known to originate from land, it is the large, brightly coloured and very durable plastics used by the commercial fishing industry that are most conspicuous. Marine plastics may have travelled great distances but heavy creels are likely to have been lost by local fishers and can be returned to be repaired or dismantled and plastic parts reused. Lobster Pot Luck is a glossary created as part of a Dumfries and Galloway Climate Hub initiative to encourage beach cleaners to collect creel parts for return to local fishers.

Marine debris gathered by volunteers is collected by Dumfries and Galloway Council. It is often contaminated and difficult to sort so most of it is classified as non-recyclable waste and is sent to the Ecodeco Plant on the outskirts of Dumfries. Here waste is shredded, dried by naturally occurring heat and mechanically separated. The principal output of the facility is a fuel used in specialist ‘energy from waste’ power stations.

Large items found on the beach such as fish boxes can be returned to fishers or reused by local communities and some are even recycled into knife handles by a local business.  The large items collected by Dumfries and Galloway Council are sorted at a Zero Waste Park and sent to a commercial recycling facility.

Wildlife Journeys Plastic

Routes taken by wildlife and plastic, to and from the Solway shore, often follow close parallels. Visit an exhibition that compares and contrasts the often-remarkable journeys taken by migrating wildlife and floating litter at WWT Caerlaverock and touring Dumfries and Galloway. European eel, barnacle goose and painted lady butterfly all rely on the power of ocean currents or prevailing winds to undertake their migrations.

Creative writing workshops are also taking place with Dr Anna Wilson from Glasgow University’s Waste Stories project.

Discover more about the stories behind the Solway Hoard by visiting Museum of the FutureNow here

Or read the stories in the booklet that accompanied the exhibition here

The final report for the More Positive Action for a Cleaner Solway project can be found here

The final report for the Positive Action for a Cleaner Solway project can be found here

Previous projects

These have focussed on the coast of the Machars, exploring sustainable actions applicable to rural locations, to clarify issues and test achievable options that considered many factors.

Find out more in these short presentations:

Beach Clean Case Studies

We need to find innovative solutions to the problem of plastics on our amazing shoreline. So, we are investigating a targeted approach to remove and reuse plastics and contribute to the circular economy.

The aim of the Solway Coast is Clear Project was to research and report on innovative solutions to removing; recycling / repurposing litter from historic litter sinks (places where marine debris has built up over a number of years) on the Dumfries and Galloway Coast. This was to be achieved through research and fact-finding trips to other areas of Scotland, Ireland and the Isle of Man.  

Beach clean, Durness

The visits were made to the Plastic@Bay Project in Durness, the Clean Coasts Programme in Dublin and the government on the Isle of Man.  The Irish project and Isle of Man government were chosen because of the Irish Sea connection to Dumfries and Galloway. Litter that is deposited on D&G coasts has generally originated from within the Irish Sea and the countries surrounding it so there were plans to discuss the common issue with our partners and learn from each other.  The Plastic@Bay Project is a community project researching ways to recycle and upcycle fishing nets and ropes discarded on local beaches. 

This was a highly successful project. We were able to incorporate a diverse group of interested individuals visiting some inspirational projects. Although all three visits had similar expectations, each of them turned out to be very different learning experiences.

It was useful to see projects at diverse stages of development and scale. Including projects with different levels of Central and Local Authority support.

Find out more in this short presentation or read the full report on the Solway Coast is Clear Cooperation Project_Final Report