A large build up of debris has been spotted in Salford Quays by residents, a week after Salford Council stopped removing litter.
The majority of the waste is in the North Bay underneath The Alchemist.
Local residents have taken to social media to show their disgust for the rubbish seen in the canal.
I arrived at Salford Quays this morning and was so shocked by the amount of rubbish in the canal. It’s not hard, put it in the recycling ladies and gents because rubbish, particularly plastic waste, is RUINING what’s left of the planet ? ♻️ pic.twitter.com/zw9Qhs8UzR
— Lucy Brown (@97lucycharlotte) 2 April 2019
The amount of litter in the water has been an issue in Salford for the past few weeks with the council recently halting the clean up in order to complete essential flood prevention work.
Councillor David Lancaster, Lead Member for Environment and Community Safety at Salford City Council, recently said: “We’ve had a very wet March with lots of torrential rain from Storm Gareth. Five local rivers drain into the Quays so natural and other debris caught up in those rivers is washed down and accumulates in the Quays.
“We have so far removed 70 tonnes of debris from outside the Helly Hansen Watersports Sport Centre – a part of the waters we are responsible for.”
The work to remove the debris was scheduled to resume yesterday and Salford Mayor tweeted that contractors should be back cleaning up the waters this week.
We have been informed that the contractor should be back on site during this upcoming week to get the waters the council covers cleaned up as soon as possible. The contractor has been working on clearing other critical areas of the Quays. City Mayor’s team.
— SalfordMayor (@salford_mayor) March 30, 2019
George Drakonakis, the president of the Salford University Boat Club, says that the recent storm had caused a huge build up of debris meaning that they were unable to train for two weeks saying: “It’s not the first time this has happened, and there is generally a fair amount of debris just lingering around the Quays”
The two week period was during the time of the Media City ‘Varsity’ race and the races had to take place indoors on rowing machines.
When asked if the council had to do more Drakonakis said: “The council certainly does but we as individuals should notice how much waste we all produce – plastics being a huge problem. It has to come from both parties”
The water is also regularly used by the public as part of an open swim in May with one resident saying that the debris could put some people off from taking part.
Salford Mayor has been contacted for comment.
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