A north-east primary school is leading the way with conservation by signing up to the Turning the Plastic Tide initiative.
Pupils from Kininmonth Primary School, Peterhead, took part in a beach clean after asking to find out more about marine plastics.
In a collaboration with the Marine Conservation Society and the Scrapbook project, East Grampian Coastal Partnership beach litter officer Crawford Paris held a workshop at the school.
Pupils then went along to Ugie beach to carry out a survey of the rubbish they could find.
They then cleaned the sands, ridding the area of 159kg of litter.
Mr Paris said: “The passion of the pupils at Kininmonth Primary should be an inspiration to all of us.
“They are truly leading the charge in helping us to make a difference on our beaches.
“This is a promising start for us as we plan the next stages of our education programme for 2019.
“If we are able to replicate this with other schools in the north-east with the same enthusiasm, the future of our beaches could be in very safe hands.”
Scrapbook uses aerial photography to record marine litter build-up around Scotland’s coastline.
Mr Paris added: “By combining the information from SCRAPbook’s aerial surveys with the Marine Conservation Society’s Beachwatch forms, Turning the Plastic Tide is now able to record and remove marine litter of all shapes and sizes, from the large items right down to tiny plastics.”
A total of 17 young volunteers accompanied him and some teachers and parents to clean Ugie beach.
The session for the school was the first of its kind, with plans to have a full programme of events throughout the region starting early 2019.
