“AFTER storms we are finding sanitary products and wipes tangled up in seaweed,” says wild swimmer, Sarah Morton. “It’s not nice to swim in, of course, but I’m thinking more about the bigger consequences for wildlife. I’m keen that wild swimmers become a bit more environmentally active. That’s what made me think we should have a pick-up week, a shoresweep for litter, and get other swimmers involved and thinking about it a bit more.”
A small beach along from Portobello sands in Edinburgh is littered with plastic bottles, wet wipes, and even a couple of shoes following a storm the previous week. Two wild swimmers and a surfer pick over for plastic waste and sewage products. “You see the stuff that ends up on the beach and you think how can people put that down their toilet,” says swim coach Debbie Kelso. “Why?”