A NUMBER of local businesses and conservation groups are celebrating the launch of a new anti marine plastic pollution project in Cornwall.

The Blue Litter Project, launched by Clean Cornwall, will see communities get together to collect, track and trace more litter within the regions more remote marine areas.

The project will run throughout the busy tourist season across the county and aims to make litter picking a more common, efficient and collaborative process.

The project was created as a response to growing concerns on the impact of plastic pollution to the sea, wildlife and ecosystems.

Clean Cornwall hopes to mitigate negative issues with the launch of its new project which is being supported by local businesses, hobbyists and conservation groups.

The project will be supplying collaborators who want to get involved with specialised litter picking equipment to help make the process of collecting marine litter safer and more efficient for them.

Findings made by these collaborators will then be logged by volunteers using the Blue Litter Project Hub App - developed by the Clean Cornwall Team to help identify marine plastic hotspots and the types of litter being found.

There are a number of marine leisure industry organisation currently involved including; Koru Kayaking in St Agnes, Classic Sailing in St Mawes, Clean Ocean Sailing in Gweek, Marine Discovery Penzance, Vertical Blue Adventures in Porthleven, Cornish Diving Centre in Falmouth, Black Pearl Boat Trips in St Ives, Liberty Boat Charter in Malpas, Sailing Barge Drifter from the Truro/Falmouth area, St Ives Boats, Wetwheels South West in Falmouth, Looe Sea Safari, Newquay Sea Safaris and Fishing and Tiger Lilly in St Ives.

The equipment provided will including items such as extendable poles with a net and boat hook attachments so that these collaborators can collect litter while out on trips as well as litter bags made from recycled PET bottles to store the findings in.

This project has been funded by the Marine Management Organisation’s fisheries and seafood scheme and is open to anyone who would like to collaborate including those who regally use the water via kayak, paddle-board, diving etcetera email [email protected] for more information .