Marine Litter Projects
Solway Firth Partnership has now completed the More Positive Action for a Cleaner Solway Project supported by the Scottish Government’s Marine Fund Scotland. You can read the full report on the project here. This was a follow on from the Positive Action for a Cleaner Solway Project. These have the ambition to have over 200 miles of cleaner coastline in Dumfries and Galloway by encouraging positive action. The projects support and collaborate with beach clean groups helping to promote their activities as well as gathering data on marine litter as well as the health and well being benefits of volunteering on the coast.
These projects include an exhibition “The Solway Hoard” inspired by the Viking-Age Galloway Hoard. It is a collaboration between Solway Firth Partnership and Museums of the FutureNow made up of public artists Coleman & Hodges and Dr Mike Bonaventura.
The project used a participatory process to imagine the stories that explain the importance of plastic objects, presented as if from a museum collection far in the future.
Museum sessions were held at Logan Botanic Gardens, Mill on the Fleet and Dumfries Museum. Participants in the sessions generated the story of the provenance and social significance of each object.
The resulting stories are being presented to a wider audience alongside displays and the artefacts, exhibited as treasures in museum cabinets in Solway Hoard from the Plastic Age Exhibitions across Dumfries and Galloway.
Further creative writing workshops are also taking place with Dr Anna Wilson from Glasgow University’s Waste Stories project. Collaboration with Dumfries and Galloway College students developed videos inspired by marine plastic found on a beach clean.
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
Our projects continue to encourage beach clean volunteers. You can find out more about how you can get involved 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
