Muslims in the Scottish city of Aberdeen organised a beach clean-up last Saturday after recent storms caused more rubbish to wash up on the seaside than normal.
About 40 volunteers braved freezing outdoor temperatures to remove plastic, wood and other items of rubbish that came in from the sea and from the recent severe flooding inland across North-East Scotland.
Sumon Hoque, the local organiser of Aberdeen Muslims Flood Relief, said: “People at the mosque heard about the recent flooding and we wanted to help out the Grampian area any way we could. When we heard that our local beach was filled with litter from the storms, we directed our efforts towards that.”
aberdeen 1Fatima, a medical student at Aberdeen University, added: “It’s been a memorable experience for me to be part of the team helping and of course I felt at ease seeing the part of the beach we covered looking much cleaner.”
At the end of the day, dozens of refuse bags were collected by vans provided by Aberdeen City Council.
Neil, a manager at Aberdeen City Council Operations Department, met with the volunteers on the day and told them, “We’re so pleased that you’ve come out here to do your bit for the environment and keep our city clean.”
A public event to clean the beach organised on Facebook will also be taking place on 30th January
Aberdeen Muslims Flood Relief plans to organise more volunteer drives as the city recovers from recent major storms and flooding in the next few weeks.
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