Biggest beach clean ever

26th April, 2018

Surfers Against Sewage (SAS), Big Spring Beach Clean saw over 35,500 volunteers turn up at 571 beaches across the UK in their annual event.

The numbers of people joining together at beaches, rivers, canals, marinas and lakes beat the 20,000 volunteer target over 500 events. Volunteers removed 65 tonnes of marine plastic pollution, recording 27% of the litter as avoidable plastics.

“At the beginning of the year the UK government announced targets to eliminate ‘avoidable plastic waste’ by the end of 2042,” says Community Coordinator Jack Middleton. “As part of the Big Spring Beach Clean this year we looked to document and share the impacts of avoidable plastic pollution. This mass data collection will provide the Treasury with unavoidable evidence of the urgent need to introduce upstream solutions to reduce single-use plastic.”

St Austell and Newquay MP Steve Double highlighted the incredible success of the spring clean by inviting Environment Secretary Michael Gove to congratulate and thank each and every volunteer for their hard work during a discussion in the House of Commons. Michael Gove congratulated SAS for doing, “An amazing job in making sure that there is wider awareness of what we all need to do together to ensure that our oceans and our seas are cleansed of litter.”

Don’t wait for the annual event, you can organise your own beach clean. Email Jack at beachcleans@sas.org.uk and for more information about SAS visit their website.