‘Do the right thing’ and look after the Thames

Port of London

International explorer Paul Rose and campaign partners have joined environment charity Thames21’s foreshore clean up Wednesday, 30 September and called on Londoners to ‘do the right’ thing and make sure their rubbish goes in the bin, not in the River Thames.

Paul kicked off the Port of London Authority (PLA)-led campaign at a clear-up on the Isle of Dogs’ foreshore, overlooking historic Greenwich Royal Naval College. The campaign aims to raise awareness of the harm that rubbish in the Thames is doing to wildlife and why it’s important to stop it getting there in the first place. “I love the Thames - said Paul - I grew up near it in Rainham, so it was part of my everyday life for many years.

 Now I’ve come back to help raise awareness of the harm rubbish does in the river and the simple things you need to do to stop it getting there in the first place. “The message to people is simple: do the right thing. Bag up your rubbish and make sure it’s disposed of properly. If you don’t, the wind will snatch it and blow it along until it finds the water, stops dead and stays there. It only comes back out again when people like the PLA, Thames21 and their volunteers come along to take it, bag it, and recycle it. If it’s not recovered it ends up in the stomachs of seals, fish and other marine life in the river.”

Dr Dave Morritt, reader in Aquatic Ecology and head of school, School of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway, University of London, oversaw a recent study of River Thames fish and says the impact of litter is clear: “The fish are eating plastics introduced into their environment by human activity. Two species of fish, flounder (Platichthys flesus) and smelt (Osmerus eperlanus) from Erith and Isle of Sheppey were found with plastic fibres in their guts: up to 75% of sampled flounder had plastic fibres in the gut.” Thames Festival director, Adrian Evans, who oversees Totally Thames, joined the call for action.

 He said: “We’ve spent the whole of September celebrating the Thames, with events bringing over two million people to the river and its banks. So the message is simple. We’ve got eleven months until the next festival – in that time, let’s do all we can to stop the flood of rubbish going into the Thames.” Every year the PLA recovers up to 300 tonnes of rubbish from the river Thames. Some of it is heavy wood which is hazardous to ships; the vast majority is plastic of all kinds, mostly bottles, but also spoons, cartons and Q Tips.