Plasticblitz

Join local environmental organisation Strandliners at a unique event along the Rother riverbanks. Andy Dinsdale writes.

What is a Plasticblitz?

Just as a Bioblitz, an event where people find and identify as many species as possible in a given area over a specific period of time. Scientists, families, students and community members work together to get a snapshot of the area’s biodiversity. A Plasticblitz is an event bringing together members of a community to find, identify and record the plastic ‘species’ they find.

Thames21 has joined forces with the Environment Agency and Rotary International to call on community groups to take part in a clean-up and survey of plastic waste from rivers across the UK between the Saturday 27 May to Sunday 11 June 2023.

Environmental plastic pollution

Plastic pollution is a serious and growing problem within our rivers. Plastic waste threatens wildlife through ingestion and entanglement, and slowly breaks down into microplastics, which can work their way into the food chain.

Shockingly, once plastic enters our rivers, there is no statutory obligation for any organisation or public body to remove it. Up to 80% of plastic pollution found on our coastlines comes from inland sources, carried there by rivers and streams.

Plasticblitz along the River Rother

This event previously focused on the River Thames and its tributaries, but the Plasticblitz is going UK-wide for the first time this year. Strandliners is leading events along the River Rover in the Rye area. Our surveys will allow us to compare the ‘Litter DNA’ with previous surveys in the same area, and the data will feed into the ‘Preventing Plastic Pollution’ Project.

Strandliners’ events are as follows:

Saturday 10 June – Scots Float, Rye

Sunday 11 June – Monk Bretton bridge, Rye

See Twitter feed Strandliners@StrandlinersCIC for very special plastic tweets of the day

For more information, please email strandlinersevents@gmail.com.

Thames21 https://www.thames21.org.uk/connecting-communities/plasticblitz-goes-uk-wide/

Strandliners https://strandliners.org/events/

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