Funding boost to tackle marine plastic pollution

Companies with ideas on how to tackle plastic marine pollution are being encouraged to apply for money from a £1m Scottish government fund.

The funding is being aimed at schemes which "capture, collect, recover and reprocess marine plastic waste".

Projects which prevent plastics entering the marine environment could also receive financial backing.

The government had earmarked £500,000 for the project before announcing that figure would be doubled.

There are a number of areas on the west coast of Scotland where plastics are a particular problem.

These include Arrochar, where the tides and wind direction result in large accumulations on the beach at the head of Loch Long.

'Throwaway habits'

Environment secretary Roseanna Cunningham said the funding package showed the government's "absolute commitment to tackle the scourge of marine plastic pollution".

Ms Cunningham added: "I believe that investment of this nature has the potential to benefit our environment, economy and our coastlines which suffer from the unintended consequences of modern-day lifestyle choices."

The move has been welcomed by government-funded agency Zero Waste Scotland.

Its chief executive, Iain Gulland, said: "Scotland's marine environment is increasingly suffering from our throwaway habits, and very visibly when it comes to the proliferation of single-use plastics.

"We know this is an issue people across Scotland are keen to see action on."