British Rowing join the Plasticblitz to tackle river pollution
Staff team up with Fulham Reach Boat Club to clean up the Thames during London Rivers Week
British Rowing joined forces with Fulham Reach Boat Club for a PlasticBlitz, collecting more than 60kg of rubbish from the banks of the Thames. As part of World Environment Day celebrations, staff took part in one of Thames21’s collection of events which aim to clean up London’s 400 mile network of waterways.
Thames21 is an environmental charity that works hand in hand with local communities and mobilises thousands of volunteers to transform the London’s water. In its ninth year, London Rivers Week is part of a full calendar of sustainable activities that engages 7000 volunteers each year having a huge impact on water quality flowing through London.
After cleaning up some of the shores of the Thames near Hammersmith Bridge, British Rowing’s Sustainability Lead Rachel Dulai was delighted with all the efforts. “We were very excited to join forces with Fulham Reach BC to help clear the Hammersmith foreshore of plastic waste last week as part of the Thames 21 initiative – Plastic Blitz,” she said.
“It’s great to be actively doing something ‘on the ground’ and we’re encouraging our clubs to do likewise – and delighted to see that some are!”
What became clear was that the banks of the river were covered in ‘shards’ of plastic beer glasses as well as lots of plastic bottle tops. This kind of information is incredibly important to Thames21 as it feeds into their overall data that is being collected across the UK to help give focus to clean up campaigns.
Rachel explains that this also feeds into British Rowing’s sustainability strategy. “Objective 1 is to Help our Waters Thrive but we’ve added a strand on clearing up plastics to it for 25/26. This is in addition to the work on water quality testing and clearing invasive species (mostly Floating Pennywort). We’ll build on this during the year and are working with a few summer events on their own sustainability and river clear- up projects too.
“We really feel, at British Rowing, that we’re at a tipping point with our rowing community as more and more schools, universities and clubs are taking action. Please continue the charge to clear up the beautiful rivers on which we row.”
This call to action will be continued at the British Rowing Masters Championships this weekend at the National Water Sports Centre in Nottingham. Athletes, spectators and anyone in the Nottingham are warmly invited to spend some time on Sunday doing their part in keeping our waterways clean and healthy.
British Rowing are also proud to partner with Delphis who provide environmentally friendly cleaning products. These can be used when washing down boats in order to look after our rivers. Follow the link below and use the discount code “CLEANRIVERS” for money off your non-toxic cleaning products.
