To kick off a week of events culminating with an exhibition
in the Guildhall Yard on World Water Day, 22 March, a foreshore cleaning
session was arranged for Saturday morning. Working in association with the City
of London Corporation’s Plastic Free City campaign and with Thames 21, the
event was designed with a dual objective; firstly to collect data as to the
types of wastes deposited in the Thames and secondly, to clean it up! Both very
worthy causes and so it was a pleasure to turn out on what was a very windy (but
thankfully dry) Saturday morning to do our bit.
I was joined by Fleet Warden, Rob Casey and our PR Manager, Keith
Tozzi and we met up with about 15 other like-minded people at the Banker public
house just under Cannon Street Station. The assembled crew included Jeremy
Simons, PHES Chair of the Corporation together with representatives from
Nomura, Goldman Sachs (both local employers who have been very active in
reducing single use plastic (SUP) in their offices) and Thames 21. Our guide
for the day was AJ McConville ably assisted by Issy Burkitt, both of Thames 21
with their first task being to run through the H&S briefing. This was very
thorough and we were also kitted out in protective gloves.
A short stroll upstream along the Riverside Walk took us to Queenhithe
beach, a small sharply sloping piece of foreshore right up against an office
block under construction. One has walked past it many times before but never
thought much about it. Access was over a defensive wall (see picture!) and our
data gathering could then commence. Using metre squares, we carefully examined
all the waste on the beach, most of which had been brought in by the tide. We were
particularly keen to identify SUP and related items and each were logged before
placed in bags for disposal (recycled). We were all shocked at quite how much
there was with the bulk of it being water bottles. It was only a small beach
but we picked over three bags plus some other larger items including half a
street-side litter bin (see picture). 
The beach itself was interesting in that it mainly comprised
of four types of aggregate; oyster shells, red brick and slate fragments, small
pieces of coke and coal and thousands and thousands of animal bones (from human
consumption). There were very few stones although broken clay tobacco pipes
were much in evidence too. Most bazaar. And what was more extraordinary was
that most of these items were from Tudor times and had been washing up and down
the beach for hundreds of years. If organic matter such as bones and shells can
last that long, how much worse will be inorganic plastic? Very sobering.
Once the data logging had been completed, we gave the whole
beach a good clean and it looked much the better for it. But by now we were
getting cold so a brisk walk back to the Banker for a wash and change of
clothes before a light buffet lunch. It was good to get into the warm again.
So, a very successful morning and the data collected will do
much to assist in targeting plastic reduction campaigns. The Queenhithe beach
is sampled every 10 days and so a good picture of the pollution is being built
up. There is so much work to be done but events like these help raise awareness
as well as having a practical benefit.
Thanks to everyone who turned out and to AJ and Issy for
organising. For further details of the Water Conservators week of events please
visit our website www.waterconservators.org
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