Railway daytrippers urged to protect the sand & sea when visiting the beach

As the school holidays begin, our My Beach Your Beach campaign is joining forces with Scotrail, to remind beach-goers travelling by train to respect, protect and enjoy the sand and sea wherever they visit. Barry the Big Bottle was in Glasgow Central Station yesterday, along with Barry Fisher, our CEO and Scotrail's Kathleen McGhee, General Manager at Glasgow Central, to launch the initiative, with support from Network Rail.

This initiative will be targeted at the campaign beaches located along the Ayrshire coast, that regularly attract visitors travelling by train from Glasgow and surrounding areas. Campaign banners will be installed at Saltcoats, Ardrossan, Irvine, Troon and Ayr train stations, reminding those arriving to visit the beach to play their small part in protecting the sand and sea.

Scotrail will also be helping promote campaign messaging on social media for the duration of the bathing season raising awareness of the simple habits that can make all the difference to the quality of the beach:

• put litter in the bin or take it home
• bag and bin dog poo
• don't feed the gulls

With staycations being the holiday choice of the pandemic the generations-old tradition of Glaswegians flocking from the city to get a dose of sea air is set to make a resurgence.

Barry Fisher, CEO of Keep Scotland Beautiful said: “We are pleased to be working with Scotrail to reach those traveling to the beach this summer with the My Beach Your Beach campaign.  The beaches south of the Clyde are amongst the busiest and most popular in the country and litter surveys at the end of May recorded an average of 450 items per 100 metres.  If not removed by volunteers or local authority employees these items are all at risk of becoming marine litter and polluting our seas.  We want people to value and care for the beaches they visit this summer and the new banners and messaging will play a large part in encouraging people to leave the beach they chose to visit cleaner than they found it”.

James Ledgerwood, ScotRail Head of Economic & Community Development, said:

“We are proud to support the My Beach Your Beach campaign, which will raise awareness about what people can do to protect our beaches.

“With staycations becoming more popular we all have a responsibility to look after our environment.

“Simple things like putting rubbish into bins, or taking it home, making sure dog poo is picked up and not feeding sea birds will go a long way to keeping Scotland’s beaches beautiful.”

Minister for Environment, Biodiversity and Land Reform Màiri McAllan said: "Everyone should have the chance to enjoy Scotland’s beaches this summer and no one should have their visit ruined by litter and mess. The pandemic has shown how important our outdoor spaces are to our health and wellbeing. To make sure everyone can fully enjoy their day by the sea, and to help keep our beaches and coastal waters clean, please put your rubbish in the bin, recycling it where possible.”

The campaign, funded by the Scottish Government and supported by SEPA is being led by Keep Scotland Beautiful to sit alongside its Upstream Battle and Clean Up Scotland campaigns and annual Beach Awards.

The key beaches selected for this campaign have faced challenges in improving the quality of their bathing water as measured by SEPA, and research confirms the strong link between behaviour on the land and the cleanliness of the local seawater.

Find out more about how you can get involved and contribute to the campaign at www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/mybeachyourbeach