Find a beach clean

Going to a beach, it’s very possible if you look closely you will always find some plastic that has been washed up by the waves. Sometimes you may not even need to look closely to see as often many larger objects such as some fishing gear and post consumer waste are very easy to spot due to them often being brightly coloured. If you cannot see some on first appearance look closer, you may be able to see small pieces that have broken down. These very small pieces of plastic are called microplastics!

Whether you want to clean up as you go on your beach trip or go to a beach for an organized beach clean, below are some of the organizations you can look at for information or contact to get involved
with their clean up activities.

2 MINUTE FOUNDATION

People are busy and even the most committed environmentalists cannot always attend beach cleans or organised clean ups. By taking 2 minutes, each and every time they visit an outside space, be a 2 Minute Social Champion.

Link to The 2 Minute Foundation 

MARINE CONSERVATION SOCIETY WEBSITE

Offers a good starting point to find beach cleans happening near you with adverts of beach cleans across England, Wales and Scotland. They also tell you if they are school friendly to take large groups of kids.

Link to MCS website

Otherwise we have some suggestions of local groups that may be of interest to you to join in
with, contact/follow on social media – the INdIGO project is looking at the channel region so for regions spanning beyond that the MSC website is best for Wales, Scotland.

DEVON

Offers a good starting point to find beach cleans happening near you with adverts of beach cleans across England, Wales and Scotland. They also tell you if they are school friendly to take large groups of kids.

Clean Our Patch is an independent CIC that works with councils to improve urban and rural areas for the community. Clean Our Patch CIC funds all of the equipment required to litter pick.

Beach cleans have been a core part of Plastic Free North Devon since we started. As well as tangibly making a difference to our local beaches they have proven a fantastic opportunity to educate and empower – follow on facebook or sign up to their newsletter for events.

CORNWALL

We run a variety of organised beach cleans across the ‘Seven Bays’ in North Cornwall. All equipment will be provided and Beach Guardian will remove everything collected on our beach cleans. Our events are family friendly, the more helping hands the better!

We hold community beach cleans approximately once a month, and these are generally attended by between 20 and 60 volunteers, who remove hundreds of  sacks of harmful plastic waste from our small part of the Cornish coast each year.

During our recycling initiatives – workshops, talks and meetings – we are discussing and experimenting with ways to transform plastic waste and give it new, inventive use.

DORSET

To keep the Jurassic Coast clean so that the vast array of wildlife get to live in their natural environment, millions of visitors may enjoy it and future generations can marvel at its history for ever more.

We organise local community events usually monthly on the last Sunday of the month. We target both local beaches and coastal margins to stop litter from reaching our beaches. All our community litter picks are listed and bookable free on eventbrite.

SUSSEX

We are a registered charity working with local communities and businesses to highlight the impact of plastic pollution on our environment and to try to minimise the amount of plastic entering our local seas and wider oceans.

NORFOLK

Norfolk Beach Clean is a community group where volunteers can join on beach clean events.Find them on facebook where they post about beach cleans you can get involved with.