Litter of the Thames - Meeting Minutes

PLA Offices, Pinnacle House, 23-26 St Dunstan’s Hill, EC3R 8HN

9 May, 2016, 10:30-12:00 pm

Attendees 15 Feb 2016

Name / Organization / Initials
Maria Arceo / Artist / MA
Brian Clark / British Marine Federation
Thames Valley / BC
Paul Clark / Natural History Museum / PC
Chris Coode / Thames 21 (T21) / CC
Tanya Ferry / Port of London Authority (PLA) / TF
Kim Ferran Holt / Thames Estuary Partnership (TEP) / KFH
Paul Hyman / Active 360 / PH
Donata Magrin / TEP / DM
AJ McConville / Thames 21 / AJ
Ali Murrell / Riz Boardshorts / AM
Dave Morritt / Royal Holloway University of London / DM
Trewin Restorick / Hubbub / TR
Laura Scheimeder / Maria Arceo Project Management / LS
Severin Vasselin / WaterTrek / SV

Apologies/Absent 15 Feb 2016

Name / Organization
Emma Barton / Royal Yachting Association
Adam Batchelor / Greater London Assembly
Rebecca Carter / London Aquarium
Christina Dixon / World Animal Protection (WAP) / Apologies
Pat Fitzsimons / Thames Estuary Partnership / Apologies
Rob Francis / King's College London
Sue Kinsey / Marine Conservation Society (MCS) / Apologies
Deborah Leach / Thames21 / Apologies
Fiona Llewellyn / Zoological Society London / Apologies
Representative / Tideway
Tomas Maes / CEFAS / Apologies
Kyle Maglione / Water to Go / Apologies
Gerard Morgan / Transport for London / Apologies
Carol Quamina / Cross River Partnership / Apologies
Claire Shrewsbury / WRAP
Elanor Swan / Paper Cup Recovery and Recycling Gp.
Represntative / CRT
Adrian Whyle / Plastics Europe / Apologies

The minutes of the 9 May meeting are reported as:

Introductions

There were several new forum attendees who were new invitees in the interest of diversifying the membership to reflect a wider group of stakeholders for more comprehensive collaborations and interventions.

Reading of the Minutes

Litter Forum has thus far convened 6 previous meetings since October 2014.

Actions from the previous minutes in February 2016 were addressed.

All minutes will be available when the website is updated & revised at the Thames Litter Forum: http://thamesestuarypartnership.org/projects-and-services/networking-groups/litter-forum/

New Actions:

Task / Forum member / Action status
Action sheet/Calendar for all events / ALL / Please add any relevant events to the events calandar:
Open up membership/actively recruit within networks and engage widely. / ALL
Contact WRAP to encourage attendance and widen industry engagement. / KFH
Pursue more alignment with MCS/MLAN re: rivers and estuaries. / KFH
Review New TOR / ALL

Outstanding Actions:

Task / Forum member / Action status
Meet with Cross River Partnership / KFH made contact with Carol Quamina who is interested in participating. / Outstanding – will continue to encourage attendance
Gauge interest from PBA for Thames Watch monitoring / Brian Clark / Outstanding - BC will re-engage with PBA
Raise issue with the Paper Cup people and send info to GM to liaise with pier cafe proprietors / Tanya Ferry, Gerard Morgan – KFH Agreed to try & re-engage perhaps through the SUPB project from Marine CoLAB / Outstanding - Will attempt to re-engage thru OneLess , CrossRiverPartnership, GLA & Hubbub contacts
Raise Cafe Accreditation scheme with contacts / Tanya Ferry; Gerard Morgan / Ongoing
Tideway to fund curriculum development for Sewage related debris / Pat Fitzsimons / Outstanding
KFH will contact Scott Young to ask for funding.

Discussion of the Terms of Reference (TOR)

·  TOR was discussed and recommendation was to reword the ‘bridge the gap of learning’ as well as change the membership statement to reflect the land based sources of pollution, i.e. from source to sea, production and manufacture.

·  Want to expand membership to engage more producers and other sectors such as tourism.

·  Additionally decided to describe the organizational roles, and membership contributions.

·  Action: Rewrite/update TOR, devise a members chart and describe the membership organisation, re-engage with manufacturers/producers via WRAP

Presentations

Trewin Restorick – Hubbub Neat Streets Campaign http://www.hubbub.org.uk/

“We make environmental matters matter, creating fun campaigns that people latch onto and which go on to have a life of their own. We take a fresh approach to communicating environmental issues, focusing on people’s passions such as fashion, food, homes and neighbourhoods.”

Trewin presented some key elements of an effective campaign:

·  Try and keep it relevant to people, and keep the language simple.

·  Keep it short and manageable with clear results.

·  Had success with simple and targeted campaigns: vote with your cigarette butt/bins, as well as a chewing gum art project.

·  Found that bright bins made a difference, but talking bins did not.

·  Chewing gum highlighted with chalk did not lead to long term change.

·  Other campaign success included the Naked Bin Man, targeting the night time economy

·  Upcoming Forest of Dean litter shop and a High Street Coffee Cup initiative.

Discussion

Long term delivery for this type of project? Many businesses, BIDS, Veolia have interest in investing in this type of project and on litter campaigns on the Thames.

Maria Arceo – Artist http://www.mariajosearceo.com/

“Spanish artist based permanently in London, who uses installation, sculpture, photography and film to explore close interactions between the human manipulation of the natural world and Nature’s response to these interferences.”

·  Has worked with the PLA on the Cleaner Thames campaign.

·  Sailed the world as artist in residence on expedition to collect samples of microplastic pollutants using manta trawl nets to contribute to a range of international research projects.

·  In her work she sorts the bits of plastic and keeps track of which beach it came from.

·  Explores the human footprint in the natural environment in her work.

·  Has created a plastic stratigraphy piece and is looking for exhibition as well as storage space.

·  Has a multi-stage project proposal for using the arts for engagement on marine plastics pollution (presentation slides available) that is open to collaboration with any interested parties.

Sector Updates

Marine Litter Action Network -

·  The annual meeting was held May 26 (post Litter Forum meeting), and the Thames Litter Forum was there represented by both Tanya Ferry/PLA and Kim Ferran Holt/TEP. As well the PLA commissioned sculpture Michelle Reader’s A Bellyful of Plastic was on display.

·  The meeting had workshops on many issues, most relevant being Litter Monitoring in an Estuary. Other topics were developing a ‘Water Code’ similar to the ‘Country Code’ to provide a base for appropriate use and Innovation Awards to recognise those companies that are leading the way in reducing marine litter.

·  Outcomes will be presented at next Litter Forum.

·  It was presented to MCS organiser Emma Cunningham that perhaps MLAN could officially recognize the importance of rivers and estuaries as pathways for land based sources of pollution.

Academic Updates

·  The MSc student with Royal Holloway is now working on the Clyde examining fish gut content for plastics to use as a comparison with Thames data over a wider range of species.

·  Work is in process, but preliminary results look like there is more plastic present in fish guts in the Clyde.

Industry Updates

·  BC - Is there a benchmark for e-cigarettes for reduction of cigarette butt litter?

·  CC believes that e-cigs may be creating a new type of litter with plastic capsules.

·  PLA is working to improve industry wide litter problem as whole bags of materials are ending up in the river. Working with the EA and operators with new notices for duty of care to address fly tipping from builders as well.

·  Thames 21 has offered to make building debris a new category for litter monitoring reporting.

National Evidence Group update

·  No Updates

Events/Group Commitments

·  One Less litter monitoring – collaboration between TEP, Thames 21, PLA, Royal Holloway, Natural History Museum & ZLS to determine the presence, source and volume of single use plastic bottles in the Thames. Methods have been explored and will be trialled sometime in August. Goal is a replicable method that can be scaled up and used across Thames Estuary.

·  Watertrek UK - the follow on umbrella organisation for Paddle & Pick is under development with forthcoming SUP Source to Sea relay with potential for collaboration with interested parties.

·  PLA has a commissioned sculpture, Michelle Reader’s A Bellyful of Plastic, visiting campaign supporters and other sites along the Thames.

·  Collaborations among members with regard to behaviour change:

o  Beat the heat with Hubbub – voting with plastic water bottles, potential crossover with OneLess

o  Coffee cup manifesto (in development?) with potential crossover with recreational users.

o  One Less is working with The Whale Co. and From the Bow Seat to deliver an event for Totally Thames, Making Meaning of Ocean Pollution, which will include a litter pick with Thames 21.

Actions/Future Directions for the Litter Forum

·  Action sheet/Calendar for all events

·  Open up membership/actively recruit within networks and engage widely.

·  Contact WRAP to encourage attendance and widen industry engagement.

·  Pursue more alignment with MCS/MLAN re: rivers and estuaries.

·  As a reminder please use the Thames Litter Forum during presentations and relevant bids- logo is attached (also in black and white for non colour docs)