2023 New Year Blitz!
We are refurbishing the litter collecting boom during the winter due to storm damage. In the meantime we are going to out each Sunday afternoon (1300-1500) in January to clear the litter before the spring!
Simply email us on litterfree@living-river.org to tell us you are coming, so we can have all the equipment ready.
The Problem
Like many areas of the UK, the Chatham Maritime Peninsular suffers from litter, and like much of the UK coastline this litter is escaping into the water of the docks and estuary nearby. Once it has been released into the water it is much harder to collect, and more likely to cause damage to the environment. Once lost into the environment, depending on the material it will persist over 400 years.
Work is already being done to tackle the litter;
- CMT regularly collect litter from the roads, pathways and foreshore.
- MDL remove litter from the marina that had ended up in the marina
- Wind proofing the bottom of the fences around the Basins to prevent it reaching the water.
- Businesses like Chatham Historic Dockyard have replaced some disposable items from their sites.
However there is still litter arriving in the waterways and streets of Chatham Maritime, so the partnership project was created to develop a data and evidence led solution.
With Chatham Maritime Trust and MDL Marinas we are running a two year project using the initial data collected to significantly reduce litter by making interventions on the site around St Mary’s Island, the Basins and the Universities. For example;
- Clean ups around the foreshore with community and business
- Businesses implement solutions to prevent litter escaping from customers and sites by innovation and technological interventions
- Litter collection improvements where litter has escaped into the basins and the Medway Estuary
- Workshops with businesses and communities for waste management, resource use and simple swaps.
The project is also working towards businesses, schools and universities becoming plastic free so that the Chatham Maritime can become accredited as a Plastic Free Community under Surfers against Sewage national scheme.
Find out more about the project videos, news and oppurtunities through these following pages;
Project Progress
To find out more or get involved email us
litterfree@living-river.org