All across Orkney, litter picking teams have been busy with Bag the Bruck. This annual clean up of Orkney’s beaches and verges makes a huge difference to the beauty of our islands.

This year teams from SSEN Transmission’s Orkney Link Project got involved.

A group of 19 volunteers from across SSEN Transmission and project partners BAM, Siemens, RJ MacLeod and BDS joined the clean‑up, working to remove litter, plastic and old rope and as well as other debris from the coastline.  

Natalie Henderson, SSEN Transmission’s Community Liaison Manager, said: 

“It was great to see colleagues and contractor partners from across our Orkney Link Project coming together to support Greener Orkney and this year’s Bag the Bruck initiative. Protecting and enhancing the natural environment is really important to us, and the clean up was a practical way to give something back to the local community while making a visible difference.”

Taking place on the shore near the historic ruins of Breckness Castle near Stromness, the volunteers collected 22 black bags of waste, while also filling a trailer with old metal scraps and debris which had been recovered from the beach.

The clean‑up formed part of Orkney’s annual Bag the Bruck initiative, which brings communities together each spring to tackle marine litter, protect local wildlife and care for Orkney’s natural environment.   The multi-agency campaign runs annually across the islands, encouraging individuals, community groups and organisations to take action against litter and marine pollution. 

Jane Nelson, Greener Orkney’s Bag the Bruck Coordinator, said:

“It was great to see this beach get a good spring clean as due to its location it gets a lot of heavy metal and large items coming onto it with the winter storms. A great job done by the whole team.”

Greener Orkney is coordinating this year’s initiative which has seen multiple community-led cleans take place throughout the month. Bag the Bruck 2026 is supported by Greener Orkney, Orkney Islands Council, Scottish Sea Farms, Cooke Scotland and SSEN Transmission.

 The Orkney Link Project will connect Orkney to the national electricity transmission network for the first time – unlocking the islands’ vast renewable energy potential, strengthening both Orkney and the country’s energy security, and supporting Scotland’s transition to clean power.

The project involves the construction of new substations in both Finstown (Orkney) and Dounreay (Caithness), which will be connected by a 53km high-voltage alternating current (HVAC) subsea cable running through the Pentland Firth, with underground cables linking the substations at each end.