Polystyrene Disaster – Westcliffe Ramsgate

These are the scenes of the polystyrene pollution from the tidal pool at Westcliff in Ramsgate this morning (17th March).

The water is in very poor condition here, with either scum being attracted to the polystyrene or the polystyrene is breaking down and leeching oily chemicals into the water.

You can clearly see in the video, my cameras have a film of this slime on them affecting the quality of the video, I didn’t clean it as it illustrates just how much the water is affected in this area.

It is understood that a pontoon escaped and was lodged on the banks of the River Stour mouth. Although first spotted and reported in January, no rescue attempt was made and recent storms broke down the covers and the polystyrene broke free. There have been updates shared by The Isle of Thanet News here, which share the backstory. 

Folk are asking how they can help and because of where we are with covid restrictions, it is over to individual action – get a bag and either a sieve or a fishing net and try and remove some if you have time during outside recreation or exercise.

I am hoping removing the additional 6 pontoons that are stranded will happen with urgency as it is believed only 2-3 have caused the disaster so far. So much can be done to prevent this and I hope this can happen soon.

Update 26th March: The pontoons have been removed, but only so far as Sandwich Bay car park, so there is still exposed polystyrene there. And worryingly, there is still an ongoing situation with polystyrene washing up. If you are walking in the area, please spend some time collecting the pieces and disposing of carefully. Each piece collected stops birds, animals and marine life mistaking it for food. The impact is huge, the small plastic balls don’t get digested and fill up their tummies and give a false sense of fullness and they can eventually starve. Chemicals and toxins can also leach out of the polystyrene and they are known cause cancer.

It is a crisis that is far from over and authorities are involved and each small action we can take can really add up to clean up our beautiful beach and nature reserve.