Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

False teeth and face masks: A year of beach cleaning in Caithness turns up some interesting finds (and 15 tonnes of plastic waste)

Dorcas and Allan Sinclair who founded Caithness Beach Cleans group
Dorcas and Allan Sinclair are the founders of Caithness Beach Cleans. Picture by Jason Hedges

A set of false teeth, a single Croc shoe and a missile target drone are among the more unusual items found by volunteers cleaning up some of mainland Scotland’s most northerly beaches this year.

The most common polluting items retrieved by the Caithness Beach Cleans litter picking group were pieces of plastic fishing gear including buoys, ropes and nets.

A body was also retrieved, though it’s not what you might think.

“We spotted it from afar and it was very freaky,” said Dorcas Sinclair, one of the founding members of the group. “When we got closer it turned out to be a dummy.”

Collecting 36 tonnes of plastic hasn’t been easy

Altogether Caithness Beach Cleans has collected more than 15 tonnes of plastic litter alone in the last 12 months.

The group was first set up in 2019 by Dorcas and her husband Allan who live in Thurso.

Allan Sinclair clearing up netting from a Caithness beach,
Allan working to clear a beach of tangled fishing gear.

Since then it has grown to around 40 active members who have collectively picked up 36 tonnes of plastic pollution since they began.

“Allan and I go for walks on the beach a lot, particularly at Dunnet Beach and we just started picking up bits of fishing rope and filling up buckets with litter,” Dorcas said, remembering back to the early days of the group.

“But the more we did it, the worse it seemed to get.

“I remember thinking ‘how could there be more?’”

Dorcas Sinclair from Caithness Beach Cleans carrying a huge wad of plastic
Dorcas carrying a huge ball of plastic wrap found on a beach earlier in December.

Sadly, there will always be more. But at least Dorcas and Allan are no longer alone in their fight to keep mainland Scotland’s most northern beaches free of pollution.

And despite the challenges posed by coronavirus restrictions, volunteers carried out beach cleans throughout the region as often as they could in 2021.

Finding masks and McDonald’s cups while beach cleaning in Caithness

This year, personal protective equipment featured heavily in the litter they picked up, with discarded masks and gloves washing up daily.

“This is a new thing,” said Dorcas, “but now we can’t do a beach clean without seeing them.”

Less common are drinks bottles and cans. “They probably only make up about 2% of what we pick up,” Dorcas said. “We do see McDonald’s cups and such, but mostly it’s fishing gear.”

Creels, floats, pots, buoys, nets and ropes make up the majority of pollution on these northern beaches.

“I really wish they were all labelled so we’d know where they all came from,” Dorcas said.

“It’s common for us to pick up creels and pots from Nova Scotia. There they are all registered and you can see where they came from.”

Fishing rope in a car boot
The boot of Allan and Dorcas’ car crammed with fishing ropes after a successful litter pick.

This isn’t common practice in the UK but Dorcas wishes it was. She’d also like to see GPS trackers attached to big nets.

At the very least, she’d like to have a record introduced of what is actually put offshore. “That way it could at least be tracked,” she said.

One man’s trash is another man’s… doormat?

The group recycles what they can and try to reuse as much as possible.

Creels and other bits of fishing gear which are found in good condition are left by group members in prominent positions.  It’s hoped that fishermen put them back into service.

Fishing net pollution found by Caithness Beach Cleaners
An example of the huge nets often found by the Caithness Beach Cleans group on northern Scottish beaches.

But Dorcas and Allan have come up with clever ways of repurposing other bits they find.

“Usually the rope we get is terribly tangled,” said Dorcas.

“Allan spends ages untangling it and lays it all out in the garden for the rain to clean, then we give it a power wash.”

After it’s cleaned, the pair weave the old pieces of rope into doormats which are sold to raise money for litter picking equipment.

Recycled fishing rope doormats made by Allan Sinclair
Allan has gotten creative with the miles and miles of fishing rope he finds. Here are some of his doormats which are sold to raise money for litter picking equipment.

Creel hooks are given a new life as wheelie bin clips. “It stops all the lids from flipping open in storms,” Dorcas explained.

Though the group has been gradually seeing less litter on certain Caithness and Sutherland beaches, the problem is far from solved.

“There is 60 or 70 years of plastic laying in the sea and getting washed up by every storm and high tide,” Dorcas said. “This is just the start.”

For more information and to get involved, visit the Caithness Beach Cleans Facebook page.

Read more about beach cleaning in Caithness and around Scotland: