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Plastic pollution

Help us clean our coastline

Our next beach clean: Clacton on-sea (Monday 22nd August 2022)

Join us at our next beach clean. No need to sign up, just turn up! Meet us at the pier entrance at 1:45pm. Click here for more event information.

Fishing net

1 MILLION

100,000 marine mammals/turtles and 1 million sea birds are killed by plastic pollution every year.

The Issue

Pollution is a major threat to the world's marine life. Millions of tonnes of waste pours into our oceans every year, which is responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands of birds, turtles and mammals (and that's just the big things). Plastic has even been found in the deepest parts of the ocean, as far as Antarctica.

 

Within the UK, its sadly a common sight and many of our beaches are overrun with both small and large waste items. This problem ultimately stems from the mass production and consumption of single-use plastics, as well as a lack of proper waste disposal. Consequently, many of our native wildlife species are suffering, through ingestion or entanglement of plastics/fishing nets. We need to act now!

How long does our rubbish take to biodegrade?

Shopping bag icon

Plastic Bag:

100-300 years

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Cigarette Butt:

15 years

Plastic bottle icon

Plastic Bottle:

100-1000 years

Glass bottle icon

Glass Bottle:

4000 years

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Food Wrappers:

100-300 years

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Paper:

3-6 months

What We Are Doing

At Giving to Conserve, this issue is close to our hearts. Aside from maintaining our eco-friendly and sustainable products and packaging promise, we wanted to do more.

 

From June 2021, our passionate team have run both public and private beach cleaning events across the south-east of England. These events provide the opportunity for anyone to to join the fight to prevent pollution in our oceans and beaches. We have since removed more than 40kg of waste from our beaches with help from our fantastic team of volunteers. Are you interested in joining us on a beach clean? See below for more details. 

of rubbish was cleared over...

completed where...

of coastline.

Join Us

Join us on a beach clean

In collaboration with Surfers Against Sewage, we will be running several beach cleans throughout the year.

 

Our public cleans are free, community-based events focussed on making a small, but important difference to our coastlines. All equipment is provided for by us, so all you need to bring is yourself. No need to register or contact us. 

Our next clean will be taking place on Monday the 22nd of August 2022, at Clacton-on-sea. Please meet us at the pier entrance 15 minutes before the start time (roughly 1:45pm). Below you can find additional information about the event timing. You can also subscribe to our mailing list to stay up to date with any upcoming cleans. 

Public beach cleans take place as follows:

2 - 2:15pm:

Introduction, safety briefing and equipment hand-out.

2:15 - 3:15 pm:

Beach clean takes place.

3:15 - 3:30pm:

Conclusive talk, questions, equipment collection, group photo and farewells!

Download and view our safety guideline document here. As much as we hope the sun will shine down, please be prepared for all weather. Don't forget that waterproof, just in case. Please wear suitable clothing and footwear.

Clacton beach clean
Beach clean

Our latest clean at Clacton-On-Sea (27th August 2021) saw over 18kg of waste removed from 2.93 miles of coastline! This is a huge achievement for the team of 11 volunteers who got stuck in, yet it is a scary reminder of the sheer amount of rubbish on our beaches. Not only does this impact wildlife, but it also harbors bacteria which puts our own health at risk. All waste was carefully sorted through, to ensure we recycled as much as possible.

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Calling all educators!

We also run private beach cleans, aimed at schools, colleges, universities and community groups. These events are tailored to the individual group, where schedules and educational talks can be arranged. If you are interested, please contact us.

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