#TeamKSB survey almost 10KM of the river Clyde

Members of #TeamKSB braced the cold weather last Friday, surveying along the river Clyde as part of our Upstream Battle campaign focused on fighting marine litter.

Nine members of the team managed to survey 9.9km of the river Clyde in the Dalmarnock and Scotstonhill areas of Glasgow, carrying out 22 marine litter surveys and collecting more than five bags of rubbish along the way.

Marine litter surveys were carried out by walking alongside the river and recording how much litter was found and of what type. Half a kilometre was left between each survey which spanned 100m.

The most common littered items were snack packets, cigarette butts and cans with 768 of these items found in total. Not far behind were plastic bottles and bits of paper, with 160 items and 109 items found respectively.

Alongside the usual littered items, we also found some more unusual items including a pillow, a half assembled sofa and a Christmas jumper!

Upstream Battle is focused on stopping litter’s journey from source to sea, and you can help us by getting involved with our citizen science project.

We recently published two reports on the litter crisis, an LEQ Report and our Scottish Litter Survey, where it was found that 90% of those asked believe litter is a problem across the country

We want to reach 100 marine litter surveys by the end of the campaign and 50 surveys along the rivers Clyde and Tay, to help us build Scotland’s first comprehensive river litter data-set in order to tackle the issue head on and ultimately reduce litter locally.

Heather McLaughlin, our Campaigns Coordinator, said: “We're facing a marine litter emergency in Scotland. Since 80% of marine litter comes from land, we need to do our part to stop its journey from source to sea.

“Our aim is to reach 150 marine litter surveys by the end of our Upstream Battle campaign.

"I encourage everyone to get involved in Upstream Battle, whether it's litter picking or surveying your local waterway. By taking part, you are helping us paint a picture of the litter problem at a local level.

"This means we can stop it in its tracks before it reaches our rivers and waterways.”

Find out more about Upstream Battle and how you can get involved.