Chatham Maritime Marina’s Clean Marina day a great success

The inaugural Clean Marina day at MDL’s Chatham Maritime Marina took place on Friday 2nd August with over 20 dedicated volunteers taking part. Armed with building sacks for rubbish and nets and rakes to pull litter from the water the team collected more than 15 bags of rubbish and six large trolleys full of weed from in and around the marina and surrounding River Medway.

MDL’s Clean Marina day is part of the two-year Litter Free Maritime project run by the Living River Foundation in partnership with MDL and Chatham Maritime Trust (CMT). Living River will now examine the litter picked and where it was collected from in order to develop strategies to decrease its sources.

Included in the rubbish collected from the banks of the river were 77 wrappers, 169 cigarette butts and 24 tissues amongst other things. And from the marina volunteers fished out 50 straws, 35 crisp packets and a variety of other items. The most notable find of the day was a whole dinner in a pot, complete with roast potatoes!

Ali Hand, Manager at MDL’s Chatham Maritime Marina, took part in the litter pick. “We are lucky to be situated in such a beautiful waterside location, but litter is a real challenge.”

MDL Managing Director, Mike Glanville, also helped to pick litter along with Dan Sutton, MDL Head of Operations. “Working in the marine industry you cannot help but see the effect that human activity has on the marine ecosystem. Much of the rubbish that we have collected today was blown in from other areas,” says Mike.

“We are delighted to be involved with the Litter Free Project, working together with Living River and CMT to find solutions to the challenge that litter presents,” continues Mike. “I would like to extend a huge thank you to all the volunteers who gave up their time to assist in such a worthwhile project.”

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