On Saturday, February 17 the Rye Community Centre was buzzing with activity and the sharing of knowledge on how to best improve our environment. There were experts on hand to answer questions and people went away armed with information and a deeper understanding of how they can get involved.
Love Our Rother 2024 was an event showcasing potential solutions to some of our environmental pollution, themed as “From Pollution to Solution”. Hosted by Strandliners, and opened by Gonzalo Alvarez, chair of the United Nations Association Climate and Oceans, community groups and organisations were invited to bring displays and activities focusing on environmental awareness, citizen science, re-use, repair, recycle, and reducing our human impact on our local environment.
Strandliners engages with volunteers from everyday backgrounds to learn more about our waste. Andy Dinsdale was on hand to explain what they do and why they do it.
“The rubbish you see here was collected on a very wet Valentine’s day by Strandliners’ volunteers. It was all taken from just 500 metres of one bank of the river Rother.
“We have separated it into different categories which will be recorded by brand, item, type of plastic and whether single or multilayer: the more data we collect about environmental pollution, the more chance we have to stop it at source. Source is the keyword here. Litter-picks and beach cleans are brilliant for wildlife and humans, as they make the picked area a safer place to be (and the events can be social and great for communities), but how do they stop the pollution returning the next day or on the next tide?
“After each pick and survey, the results are sent to the Marine Conservation Society, Preventing Plastic Pollution, or Break Free From Plastic as evidence to lobby for change. It is only through evidence that we have schemes such as the plastic bag tax. We also use our data to respond to government consultations, including the deposit return scheme.”
There were many groups represented in the room, including the Rother Environmental Group, Rother District Council, Rother Voluntary Action, Rye Community Food and Wildlife Garden, Sussex Greenways, RSPCA Mallydams Wood, Young Strandliners, Community Compost Solutions, the Kind Table, the Bucket & Spade Toy Library, and the launch of a local project, the Three Rivers Project.
Cllr Sue Learoyd-Smith explained about the Three Rivers Project: “Basically we had the idea to do this project as a citizen science project. It is about raising awareness about the local river pollution in the community of Rye and finding solutions to clean up our waterways by making a difference together. We wanted to do something practical and engage the public. With your help, the Three Rivers Project plans to survey and analyse pollution along the Rother, Brede and Tillingham and set up a monitoring group to oversee the rivers’ health.”
Joyce from Rother Voluntary Action said: ”I am part of the Make it Happen Team. RVA supports groups of volunteers across Rother and help people with funding to get groups started up. They come to us with an idea, and we take it from there.”
The success of the day was the constant chat between visitors and groups, networking at many levels. Talking to people as they left, they expressed how much they had learnt and how they wanted to get involved. Comments included:
“Fantastic event – great to see such a variety of stalls and like-minded organisations.”
“Very good to network with all of these groups. I’d love to see more of these connecting events.”
“Lovely event to engage communities – made our day!”
Many thanks to Beverley Coombes from Standliners for assisting with this story.
Image Credits: Kt bruce , Beverley Coombes .
Love our Rother was such a success, again! Well done and thank you to everyone who made it happen.