Award of CR/2020/04 – Riverine Litter Technology Review

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Section 1 – Introduction 1. Marine Scotland's purpose is to manage Scotland's seas for prosperity and environmental sustainability, working closely with our key delivery partners and others. The Marine Planning and Policy Division is responsible for ensuring the sustainable development of Scotland’s marine area. Marine Litter policy sits within the Marine Conservation team which leads on the protection of marine habitats and species and the ecosystems that support them, so that society continues to enjoy the natural goods and resources provided by our seas. Our work is framed by the Marine Litter Strategy which includes taking action to prevent marine litter and remove litter which is already present. This research is required to inform policy development to tackle litter coming down our rivers, before it enters our seas. Section 2 – Background & Context 2. The Scottish Government has a Marine Litter Strategy which is currently under revision to reflect the need for increased focus on litter removal. In addition, the refreshed Strategy will reflect latest scientific reports with new evidence-based policies. Marine Scotland Science published a paper at the end of 2019 showing the significant marine plastic input from Scottish rivers. It highlighted the worst area, where about 150 pieces of plastic enter the sea from the Clyde catchment area every minute (uncertainty range 50 to 3,000 pieces), causing 93% of the plastic pollution on the west coast. 3. There is no doubting the need to stop litter entering our seas from our rivers. While multiple projects, including Keep Scotland Beautiful’s “Upstream Battle”, seek to reduce riverine litter through behaviour change and community intervention, the problem continues. Various technologies are employed by other administrations to capture and remove riverine litter. This project seeks to compare these technologies by geographical suitability, efficacy and by cost.