scotland

This week hasn’t been a normal “day at the office”. I’ve spent the last few days on board the Beluga II, the Greenpeace boat currently sailing around the Scottish coast to document and investigate the impact of ocean plastic pollution on Scotland’s internationally significant wildlife.

Last week I was standing over a pile of plastic Coca-Cola bottles, on a remote beach in Mull on the west coast of Scotland. 

Scotland is the envy of the world with its rich waters teeming with wildlife and spectacular coastlines and beaches. But it’s increasingly at threat from the scourge of marine plastic pollution.

“Basking sharks!”

At 5am, these words shatter the silence in the sleeping quarters on the lower deck of the ship.

The crew burst into life, wrestling on clothes, cameras, binoculars.

Up on the helm, eyes pace back and forth across the expansive blue of Gunna Sound – a known feeding ground for these gentle giants off the west coast of Scotland – searching for the elusive fins which moments before pierced the water.

And then… nothing.

With the ebb and flow of the tides, thousands of miles of coastline around the UK testify to the devastation that plastic pollution is having on the marine environment. The oceans are at their choking point, for every mile of beach surveyed there are 159 plastic bottles found washed up.

A truckload of plastic waste enters our oceans every minute.

When I first heard this statistic I couldn’t believe it. But the evidence is all around us - from tiny microbeads in our toothpaste to images of seabirds with stomachs full of plastic. Plastic pollution is out of control.

We’ve fallen in love with British wildlife all over again this week thanks to the wonderful nature footage on BBC’s Into the Wild.