Project to keep plastic pollution out of river Adur: litter picks and workshops across Sussex

The Ouse and Adur Rivers Trust is working with Strandliners to audit and extract pollution from the Ouse and Adur river catchments as part of the international Preventing Plastic Pollution project, OART.

Litter picks and brand audit workshops have been organised for locations in Hassocks (Wednesday, October 12), Steyning (Friday, October 14), Shoreham (Sunday, October 16) and Lewes (Tuesday, October 18).

Further litter picks are planned for Burgess Hill, Haywards Heath, Uckfield and Barcombe.

Andy Dinsdale from Strandliners said “Litter picks cannot prevent plastic pollution on their own, so adding a mix of sorting, identifying and recording can build the data rich picture of our environmental plastic pollution, leading to actions for change.”

Alistair Whitby, project officer at the Ouse & Adur Rivers Trust said “Local knowledge and experience is vital if we are to build a greater picture of the sources of litter, gather data as evidence, and lobby for change to reduce the plastic pollution at source.”

Strandliners said the project aims to connect to community groups through workshops and supported surveys to create ‘a sustainable plastic pollution monitoring and removal programme’.

Around 80 per cent of ocean plastic comes from rivers, so Strandliners believes that tackling litter in waterways is key to fixing this larger problem.

To join one of these litter picks and brand audits people can send an email to [email protected].