Ocean activists unite for UK’s biggest beach clean weekend
February 14, 2020
National ocean conservation charity Surfers Against Sewage (SAS),with support from Iceland Foods Charitable Foundation (IFCF) and Sharp’s Brewery, is organising the biggest beach clean weekend of the year as part of its annual Big Spring Beach Clean. Up to 50,000 volunteers are expected to take action to tackle the scourge of ocean plastic pollution between 18th – 26th April 2020.
In an effort to create ocean activists everywhere, SAS will be calling for river, rural and urban events to tackle plastic pollution before it gets to the coastline in the Big Spring Beach Clean: Summit to Sea. The events will include the UK’s biggest Plastic Pollution Brand Audit, collecting data to identify the brands contributing the most plastic pollution to the UK’s coastline.
In 2019, more than 45,000 people took part in 757 community cleans across the UK as part of the Big Spring Beach Clean, collecting almost 72 tonnes of plastic pollution, the equivalent of almost 18,000 full bin bags.
Jack Middleton, Community Manager at Surfers Against Sewage, said: “Tens of thousands of volunteers joining us at beaches and rivers is a huge indication of the public’s feelings towards the growing scale of the plastic pollution crisis. It also highlights the urgency of the radical action required to protect our ocean from their products. The data our volunteers collect will help inform and drive change by those who still put profits before the planet.”
Richard Walker, Trustee of the Iceland Foods Charitable Foundation, said: “Iceland Foods Charitable Foundation and Surfers Against Sewage share a common passion for tackling the scourge of plastic head on, and we know that this is an issue that resonates with an ever-growing number of people. Our Iceland stores are at the heart of high streets up and down the country and we recruit our store colleagues locally, making us a true community retailer. We are delighted to be backing SAS in encouraging individuals and organisations throughout the UK to help make a difference to the quality of their local environment through The Big Spring Beach Clean.”
Find out more and register your beach, river and urban clean events at www.sas.org.uk
