Beaches & Marine Litter Project

18/06/2026

Big Clean-up event! Dunstaffnage, 11am-1pm, on Sunday 12th July. Please sign-up by 10th July to attend*!
Sign up here: https://forms.gle/mNUUooD4zQzgmMAa7

Join us and the Round the World Yacht Race for a beach clean and litter pick to help keep our beautiful local areas clean and see why Plastic Free July is as relevant as ever. Goodies for all participants and prizes up for grabs for the the most litter collected! All litter pick equipment will be provided*.

Meet at the designated meeting area for welcome, safety briefing and kit allocation. Then enjoy exploring this beautiful beach and woodland at your own pace, cleaning up litter as you go. Return to the meeting area when you are finished, and by 12:45pm at the latest, to return the equipment, get your litter haul weighed in, and grab your participation goodies. We will do a round-up chat just before 1pm and announce the prize winners. Why not finish up with a bite to eat at the nearby Beach Cafe?

Meeting Location: Grass on seaward side of Ocean Explorer Centre, SAMS, Dunbeg, PA37 1QA.
Google map location: https://maps.app.goo.gl/enUNWiyaC672Sbj87

Travel info: Use public transport where possible or car share to be more eco-friendly.
Bus timetable: 405 - Oban to Appin/Duror | West Coast Motors, 10:00 at Oban Bus Station, 10:01 at North Pier Car Park. Arrives Dunstaffnage Place 10:13 for short walk to the Ocean Explorer Centre: https://www.westcoastmotors.co.uk/services/WCMO/405?date=2026-07-11&direction=outbound&all=on)

*If you do not sign up in advance we cannot guarantee there will be enough litter pickers or goodies for you.

Sign up here: https://forms.gle/mNUUooD4zQzgmMAa7

Clipper Event list: https://www.oban.org.uk/clipper-race-26/ #:~:text=12th%20July%2C%2011am,collected!%20Book%20here

16/06/2026

Job opprtunity! Come join the GRAB team and get paid to make the world a better place 💚🌍♻️

The GRAB Trust - 17.5 hours per week (Flexible hours, includes some weekend working) Contract: 12-month Fixed Term (option of Term-time only) Salary: £15,000 per annum …

16/06/2026

Do you believe everything you read? What does "Eco Refill System" mean to you?

We got it wrong. We thought it meant you could get a bulk bottle of Carex UK soap to refull that small pump bottle. Thereby reducing plastic waste by keeping that pump bottle in use as long as possible.

But no! Read their instructions on the back and it just says to recycle the bottle and that you have to send the pump to a specialist recycling service. Let's be honest, most of us are too busy to do that. The Carex Eco Promise link doesnt exist and Terracycle no longer take Carex products. The result, you just have to buy another of their products, complete with plastic bottle exactly the same as the one you just threw out. Greenwashing???

Today is World Refill Day. While recycling is good to avoid landfill, reducing what we throw out and reusing stuff for as long as possible are the far better options. You can get Carex refill pouches that claim to reduce plastic use by 85%, but how often have you seen these in the supermarket instead of a whole new pump bottle?

Most brands like Carex offer some ways you can reduce waste, but there is a lot of room for improvement to educate customers and make the less wasteful option the most convenient for customers.

14/06/2026

We have equipment you can borrow for free! We have plenty resources and advice to help you out, just check out the useful links below:

Equipment is available across Argyll: http://tinyurl.com/LitterPickEquip

GRAB litter pick starter pack has all the advice to get started with litter-picking: http://tinyurl.com/LitterPickStarterPack

Get a GRAB grant to raise money for your group while you clean: http://www.grab.org.uk/beachc.html

12/06/2026

Get cycling this Bike Week 8–14 June. Did you know, 20 bicycles can be parked in the same space as one car. It takes around 5 per cent of the materials and energy used to make a car to build a bike, and a bike produces zero pollution.
Here's some useful stuff to get you started:

There are loads of cycle routes to explore: https://www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/roads-and-travel/walking-and-cycling/active-travel

If your bike needs a bit of TLC try using a repair station yourself. These are dotted around many Argyll communities (we couldnt find a map of locations - share a link with us if you find a map. We hope to create a waste bustig map in the future).

If you don't have a bike, you can get cheap ones locally on many buy and sell platforms, or try if you're around Oban. Some companies offer schemes to get you a bike, and offer free bikes to those seeking employment or training (you can also donate old bikes): https://www.act-now.org.uk/act-now-and-cycle

If you want support to get going, join a local group. offer many great biking opportunities locally.

Make the new habit as easy as possible to do – so that it’s almost harder to go back to the old behaviour than it is to do the new action. In this case, things like putting your bike somewhere it’s easily accessible

You can even caclulate how much you could save by cycling compared to driving here: https://familycycling.co.uk/bike-vs-car-school-commuting-calculator/

https://www.cyclinguk.org/scotland

10/06/2026

With the ongoing changes to Scotlands landfill regulations, much of our waste from Argyll and Bute goes to an Energy from Waste (EfW) facility near Glasgow. The emissions from this bruning waste is due to be included in the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). Zero waste Scotland have done an impact report looking at what this might cost our Council...and us.

Over 60% of the fossil carbon emissions in EfW are from kerbside collected residual waste. Another clear statistic that shows households need to do more to reduce their plastic waste.

The introduction of the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) and the collection of plastic film and flexibles under Extended Producer Responsibility for
packaging (pEPR) are likely to reduce fossil carbon emissions by 6%.

The estimated ETS costs for local authority residual waste in Scotland were estimated at £28.7 million in 2028, reducing to £27.02 million as result of DRS and collection of plastic film and flexibles under pEPR, and further to £24.94 million as result of the modelled interventions. These costs are not distributed evenly across all 32 LAs.

The report summarises, "there remains significant scope for local authorities to further reduce their fossil carbon emissions through improved performance of collection services, specifically for household plastic packaging".

Anything that encourages less waste and better waste management is a step in the right direction. But, should it be our council's paying for the disposal of waste created by big industry? EPR is a step towards manufacturers taking responsibilty for the stuff they make (including packaging), but this report implies there is still a huge gap between those that produce the stuff, and those who have to pay to deal with it once we, the public, dont want it anymore.

What do you think?

Read the full ZWS report here: https://www.zerowastescotland.org.uk/resources/impact-extension-uk-emissions-trading-scheme-energy-waste-scottish-local-authorities

08/06/2026

Bike Week celebrates cycling on 8–14 June. Can you get some pedals in for your health and the planet? If not, what's stopping you? Sorting out these hurdles is the best way to help yourself and everyone else be more active and reduce travel bills. Here's some useful stuff to get you started:

There are loads of cycle routes to explore: https://www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/roads-and-travel/walking-and-cycling/active-travel

If your bike needs a bit of TLC try using a repair station yourself. These are dotted around many Argyll communities (we couldnt find a map of locations - share a link with us if you find a map. We hope to create a waste bustig map in the future).

If you don't have a bike, you can get cheap ones locally on many buy and sell platforms, or try if you're around Oban. Some companies offer schemes to get you a bike, and offer free bikes to those seeking employment or training (you can also donate old bikes): https://www.act-now.org.uk/act-now-and-cycle

If you want support to get going, join a local group. offer many great biking opportunities locally.

Make the new habit as easy as possible to do – so that it’s almost harder to go back to the old behaviour than it is to do the new action. In this case, things like putting your bike somewhere it’s easily accessible

You can even caclulate how much you could save by cycling compared to driving here: https://familycycling.co.uk/bike-vs-car-school-commuting-calculator/

https://www.cyclinguk.org/scotland

06/06/2026

Edinburgh have taken big steps to stop single-use cup waste littering their streets. Dedicated cup bins will be deployed on Market Street, Waverley Bridge and outside Haymarket Station to collect single-use cups in a new trial. Plus, More than 30 stores are participating in Take It Back, allowing customers to take a single-use cup back to any of the above retailers to be recycled. All part of the Keep Scotland Beautiful Cup Movement campaign.

Our 2022 Oban and Helensburch reusable cup trials highlighted many issues with the cup waste system. Do you think Argyll will ever have specialist cup recycling bins and not a single cup littering our communities?

Read more: https://www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/news/2026/april/takeaway-cup-recycling-made-easier-in-edinburgh/?mc_cid=b7c5a160d8&mc_eid=2842b62a4c

04/06/2026

Every 5th June since 1974 is World Environment Day. We said 1.5°C was the limit for acceptable global warming. We are crossing that line.

Too hot. Too dry. Too wet.
The world is feeling the impacts of climate change.
But everywhere, solutions are scaling, and momentum is building.

What are you doing to do your bit for the planet? Check out Project Drawdown for some ideas on the most impactful things you can do: https://drawdown.org/explorer

Join us : https://www.worldenvironmentday.global