East coast clean-up continues with warning

National World

As the East coast clean-up continues following the collision in the North Sea, Coastline Runner Luke Douglas-Home tells us we can all do our bit to fight ocean plastic pollution - but the problem will not go away any time soon.

Transcript

00:00As the beach clean continues following the collision in the North Sea, coastline runner

00:06Luke Douglas-Holme tells us we can all do our bit to reduce plastics pollution.

00:11Millions and millions of tonnes of plastic pollution entering the ocean every year. And

00:18the solution to it, or parts of the solution to it, is that we have to just start treating

00:26our environment with respect. In a sense, that regarding the plastic pollution, is that

00:36the amount of plastic pollution that comes from the land to the ocean is about 80%. And

00:44with a better, and I introduce them to the word, BIM for structure. All of us can do

00:50something about this plastic pollution coming from the land to the ocean. Whether it's better

00:58BIM for structure, whether it's better council behaviour on signage, or whether action factors

01:07are individual behaviour, not leaving sweet wrappers, not leaving crisp packets, not leaving

01:16dog waste bin bags in the dunes. The amount of dog waste bags that are found in sand dunes

01:25is kind of mind-boggling to me. And that can be solved by better signage, better BIMs and

01:32better education.

01:34Now, have you had a chance to walk along the beaches since the disaster and form an opinion

01:43as to how it's affecting the coast?

01:46Yes, I had a quick look at Scatena speech itself. I didn't have time to get down to Gibraltar

01:54Point, where our run was going to be this Sunday. But I understand that Norfolk County

02:02Council moved much quicker on this subject of trying to clear up some of the plastic

02:08pollution from the coast than Lincolnshire. Lincolnshire then had followed, but they are

02:14now switching on to dealing with the problem.

02:20Do you think, you know, that there is still a risk to the environment from this pollution?

02:30Yes, hugely so. In that plastics, various polymer forms, plastics last for hundreds

02:41and hundreds of years. So one of the things that I spoke with the school pupils yesterday

02:46about was that, I said, just a point, I reminded them that just across the wash in Hunstanton,

02:56Hunstanton, North Norfolk, there is a breeding colony of fulmars. And fulmars are surface

03:04feeders. And they will mistake these plastic myrtles as fish eggs. And the breeding season

03:13is just about to start. So these myrtles, of which there are billions released from

03:19the catastrophe on the 10th of March, will be around forever until we tide them up

03:26difficultly. But they'll feed, they'll pick them up off the surface and then feed them

03:32to their young. And then their young feel constantly full and won't eat much and so

03:39they'll die from malnutrition and growth. So 30 years ago, the fulmar, nesting fulmar

03:46population at Hunstanton was 200 pairs. It's now 100 pairs. And I told the school pupils

03:53yesterday that, you know, just watch this space because this is potentially another

04:03halving of their population. So, yes, the pollution problem caused by the 10th of March

04:10will last for a very long time.

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