ENGINEERING giant BAE Systems and Keep Scotland Beautiful are launching a new partnership today in a bid to help tackle marine litter.

The environmental charity and BAE Systems, whose shipyards are located at Govan and Scotstoun on the Clyde, are partnering in “Upstream Battle”, KSB’s campaign to combat litter “from source to sea”.

The campaign has been raising awareness, gathering evidence, and inspiring action in Glasgow and the Clyde Valley since its 2018 launch and it has linked stakeholders from the public and private sectors with Clyde Valley communities to focus on developing new ways to tackle the problem.

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The new partnership will help raise awareness of the marine litter pathway from source to sea,further, which is aimed at encouraging responsible behaviours locally and inspiring activity from individuals, communities and employees of BAE Systems to help play their part in the campaign on the Clyde through to April 2022.

It will also support specific community engagement activity with the creation of two new Community Clean Up Hubs, local to BAE Systems Scotstoun and Govan sites on the Clyde.

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Barry Fisher, KSB chief executive, said that “with COP26 coming to Glasgow in November, this is an ideal opportunity to raise the profile of the challenges associated with marine litter and place this firmly in the context of the climate emergency”.

Paul Feely, engineering director, BAE Systems, Naval Ships, said: “Sustainability is important to us and as a responsible company we’re working hard to reduce our impact on the environment."

He added: "BAE Systems recently announced a target to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions across our operations by 2030 and across our value chain by 2050, and more locally we want to reduce the problem of marine litter in our local communities and our waterways, such as the River Clyde.

“We’re excited to be working with Keep Scotland Beautiful, supporting the communities that we’re a part of, to establish two new local Community Clean Up Hubs close to our shipyards in Glasgow. We’re encouraging our employees and residents local to Scotstoun and Govan to get involved and support throughout the summer so that together we can make a difference in our local communities.”

In addition to the establishment of the new Community Clean Up Hubs, the support from BAE Systems will enable a number of community clean up events to take place over the next eight months, as restrictions allow, to allow BAE Systems employees and local communities to tackle litter and related environmental quality issues in the Govan and Scotstoun areas.