Article from My Ricky News by Bryn Holmes
A team of Rickmansworth kayakers gathered together at on Sunday, March 20 to clean up the beloved River Colne, collecting more than 20 bin bags worth of rubbish.
Locally based Nomad Kayak Club (NKC) are affiliated to British Canoeing, who have pledged to protect and improve the health of the country’s rivers and waterways, as part of it’s ‘Clear Access, Clear Waters’ initiative.
Led by Ian Walker, the team scoured the part of the river from the Batchworth Canal and the Springwell Lock, managing to fill two canoes worth of rubbish.
Paddlers went into the water in dry suits to provide easy access in and out of the river, with an estate vehicle left at Springwell Lock to take the retrieved materials to the refuse dump on Riverside Drive.
KDC stated: “It is really important to stop plastics and other junk journeying along our rivers and reaching our oceans causing untold damage.
“The plastic does not biodegrade, instead it breaks down into smaller pieces which stay in our environment forever and at this stage it becomes impossible to remove.
“Fish and other creatures then mistake the plastic particles for food, eat it; plastic is then in our food chain.
“The impact on human health is unknown. Birds and other wildlife can become entangled often leading to death.”
The clean-up had been planned two years ago, but the COVID-19 pandemic caused it to be postponed.