Volunteers rally to remove around one tonne of old marine litter from Birsay Beach

A dedicated team of 31 volunteers from our Orkney Link Project joined forces with local environmental charity Greener Orkney to carry out a major beach clean at picturesque Birsay Beach.

Together, the group tackled legacy marine litter that had been washed ashore during previous winter storms - much of it too heavy to remove during earlier community clean-ups.

The team reached out to Greener Orkney to ask how they could get involved in the charity’s next clean-up initiative, and after learning about the amount of old litter which had been washed up from previous winter surges at Birsay, they formed a plan to coordinate a volunteer-led response to clear up the debris. 

Volunteers worked to clear old fishing creels, ropes, and large fragments of plastic, some of which had been semi-submerged in the sand for years.  Using wheelbarrows and trailers, the debris was collected, removed, and prepared for recycling or safe disposal.

In total, around one tonne of litter was cleared from the beach.

Greener Orkney is a community-led charity dedicated to protecting the environment by cutting Orkney’s carbon emissions and promoting climate awareness. One of their key initiatives includes organising year-round beach cleans across the islands to tackle waste and foster a cleaner, greener coastline.

John Berry, Marine Litter Development Officer at Scottish Islands Federation - North Isles and Trustee at Greener Orkney, said:

“We're extremely grateful to the SSEN Transmission team for their volunteer-led work party at Birsay Beach. This type of concentrated effort with additional hands and equipment is an important complement to the regular community-led beach cleans promoted by Greener Orkney.While our local volunteers do tremendous work dealing with the seasonal tides of plastics through casual cleaning efforts throughout the year, beaches like Birsay accumulate legacy materials - old creels, ropes, and heavy debris - that require the kind of organised work party that SSEN Transmission provided. Getting these long-standing materials out of the environment and into the waste stream managed by Orkney Islands Council makes a real difference to our coastline.The SSEN Transmission team tackled litter that had been sitting there for years, and their contribution will have a lasting impact on this beach."  

Jeni Herbert, Community Liaison Manager at SSEN Transmission, said:

“We’re proud to have mobilised such a strong team to support John and the volunteers at Greener Orkney in clearing legacy litter from this stunning stretch of coastline. Preserving Orkney’s natural environment is something we care deeply about, and the Birsay beach clean gave our team a real sense of pride - not just in the work we’re doing through the Orkney Link Project, but in how we’re partnering with the local community to make a lasting, positive difference."

The clean-up was carried out by team members working across SSEN Transmission’s Orkney Link Project, which includes the construction of new substations in Finstown (Orkney) and Dounreay (Caithness). These will be connected by a 53km high-voltage alternating current (HVAC) subsea cable running through the Pentland Firth, with underground cables linking the substations at each end. Once complete, the project will connect Orkney to the national electricity transmission network for the first time - unlocking the islands’ vast renewable energy potential, strengthening both Orkney and the country’s energy security, and supporting Scotland’s transition to clean power.

Learn more about the Orkney Link Project here:  https://www.ssen-transmission.co.uk/projects/project-map/orkney/