This year’s Clean Marina day for Chatham Maritime Marina has been designated as Friday 2nd August. As all coastal and river communities know, litter is an ongoing challenge as it finds its way into waterways from many landside sources.

MDL’s Chatham Maritime Marina is working with Living River Foundation (a not for profit organisation) to help look after its location on the River Medway, Kent and the wider peninsular.

Litter Free Maritime, a two-year project run by Living River in partnership with MDL and CMT (Chatham Maritime Trust), was set up to understand the source of, and decrease the amount of, litter in the Chatham Maritime area around the marina. This project consists of two main tranches of work.  The first is data collection where Living River will examine the results of litter picks and locations where it was collected in order to develop informed strategies to decrease its sources, for example, by putting bins into different locations. The second is to implement solutions to intercept the litter or reduce its creation.  As part of the data collection Living River and MDL will be inserting a litter boom collector into the marina (made from recycled plastic), this has been funded by MDL, Chatham Maritime Trust, Sea-changers and supported by infrastructure from Pirates Cave.

As part of the Litter Free Maritime project, MDL’s Clean Marina day team will be led by Living River volunteers and supplied with building sacks for rubbish, while nets, rakes and pickers will be utilised to pull litter out of the marina and be sorted to help with the data collection.

“Litter is a challenge for all coastal and river communities,” says Ali Hand, Manager at MDL’s Chatham Maritime Marina, who is taking part in the litter pick. “While all of our staff pick-litter on all of our sites as a matter of course, it’s great to have a deep clean too. We know that the majority of waste on our sites is blown in from other areas. While this is deeply frustrating, keeping our marinas and associated waterways as clear as we can is part of our wider commitment to the environment, for the enjoyment and benefit of wildlife, our customers and local residents. We’re delighted to be involved in the wider project as understanding the long-term challenges, and how to manage them, will benefit all our marinas.”

“We’re delighted that MDL are a partner in the Litter Free Maritime project,” says Tanya Ferry, Founder of Living River. “We have an area of outstanding beauty and it’s up to us all to ensure it stays that way. That’s why this project is so important, to work together to find the solutions. When we’ve finished collecting our data – later this year – we will be able to strategically target our efforts to reduce the overall impact on the environment. Days like this not only help to improve the environment but also feed our data collection. The team will also be picking-up rubbish in the streets around the marina, before it gets into the waterways with the community and CMT.”

The Clean Marina day will start at 10.30am. Everyone in the marina community is encouraged to take part.

MDL is dedicated to helping improve the environment. The team’s remit includes ensuring that only the highest quality fuels are supplied and that environmental audits take place regularly. Hazardous waste is recycled and the company supports the Green Blue (an environmental awareness campaign) and Blue Marine Foundation (a conservation project to replenish the Solent’s oyster population).

 For more information on Chatham Maritime Marina and the services it offers:  visit: www.chathammaritimemarina.co.uk

For more information on Living River, visit: http://living-river.org  

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