Our Complete Guide to Organising a Beach Clean

For those of us who want to feel as if we are making a real tangible difference to the ocean plastic problem, a beach clean could be the perfect solution. Cleans big and small take place across the world each day, focussing on not just our seashores but now also our riverbanks, country landscapes and city streets as individuals aim to clear the perfusion of plastic littering our outdoor environments. If you’ve ever wanted to host your own beach clean but not known where to start, read on to find out all our hints and tips for organising your very own event.

In the UK alone, impressive progress has been made by keen beach cleaners against the tide of plastic waste. Each year, the average amount of litter recorded on our windswept coastline has fallen, from 558 items of trash per 100 metres of coastline in 2019 to 385 in 2021. The data collected during these litter picking events has proven that our legislation against plastic is working, with the number of plastic bags found every 100 metres dropping from 13 to 3 since the 5p charge was introduced in shops. Similarly, since the ban on plastic cotton buds, these polluting products have finally fallen from the list of top 10 beach offenders. Collecting this valuable data would not be possible without our brilliant army of volunteers, made up of an estimated 15,000 people who cover over 500 beaches in the UK. Yet there is still a lot more work to be done as each rolling high tide brings with it yet more debris, with cigarette butts, plastic packaging and wet wipes still causing a massive problem on British beaches.

If you feel inspired to make a difference to your local area and want to go one step further than collecting rubbish on your dog walk or family outing, then you might want to consider arranging your own beach clean event for the community to take part in. Even if you don’t live near the coast, you can still host a river or street clean instead; after all, this is where a lot of the waste which winds up in the ocean originates! Waterways, wind and drains all carry rubbish from inland areas to the coast where it is easily swept up by the waves and carried out to sea where we will really struggle to recapture it. So, what comes first in organising an event like this?

If you are planning a large event, you may need public liability insurance as some landowners will want to see this in order to give you permission to be on their land. Whilst this may instantly sound like a large hurdle, it doesn’t have to be as complicated as you think. Many major marine conservation charities have ambassador or volunteer schemes which you can sign up to and organise beach cleans under their charity name. These organisations will have their own insurance already in place and often all you have to do is carry out a simple risk assessment to be covered by their insurance.

The next stage is choosing your location. Most importantly, this area should be easily accessible and of course, have a big enough plastic problem that your keen volunteers will find trash to pick up! Once you have the location, date and time are the next key details and most recommend beginning your beach clean two hours after the last high tide. This ensures you are cleaning on an outgoing tide which reduces the risk of being cut off by the sea but also means that a whole new load of debris will have been recently washed up on the tide line. With these details sorted, it is a good idea to ask the landowner for permission to carry out your clean. In the UK, most beaches are owned by the local council and if they don’t own the land, then they will most certainly know who does. A simple letter explaining that you will be on the beach between these certain times to carry out a beach clean should be enough and again, if you choose to organise your event in partnership with an established charity, many of these will already have a template letter ready for you to send. You may not always get a reply from the landowner but this shouldn’t stop you from protecting our shared natural environment.

Whilst it may sound a little dull, carrying out a risk assessment before your event is essential to ensure that all the volunteers will be safe and to avoid any unwanted accidents on the day. You might want to consider natural features which could cause harm, such as sharp slippery rocks, sinky mudflats or unstable cliffs. This may impact which location you choose to hold your event at or even just which section of the beach you decide to clean. You should also consider the weather as sunstroke and hypothermia may be a risk if individuals are not dressed appropriately. Finally, there is also the matter of potentially hazardous materials that you might find during the clean. These could include chemicals, needles or unexploded ordnance. It can be helpful to consider what rubbish you might find before you head out so you have a plan of how to dispose of the waste afterwards. For example, many recommend that needles and syringes are left alone and the local council informed so that they can professionally dispose of these items. Many also advise that sanitary waste is left untouched. If you are expecting to collect a large amount of rubbish, it may be useful to get in touch with your local council beforehand to arrange a special waste collection. Alternatively, you may decide to take the collected waste to the recycling centre yourself. If you collect a large amount of trash, it may not be a good idea to leave it beside the beach bins if the council haven’t agreed to collect it. This is because overflowing bins mean other beach users have nowhere to put their rubbish and so more is likely to be dumped or windblown straight back onto the beach.

Next, you need to consider whether you will provide equipment or if you will ask volunteers to bring their own bin bags, litter pickers and thick gloves. Once again, if you organise your event with a charity, they may donate some of these items to your event for free. It’s always a good idea to have a few spare sets of gloves and bags as well as a first aid kit and hand sanitiser. In the spirit of being fully prepared, it can also be handy to have useful numbers saved in your phone, such as the local council if needles are found, the environment agency for suspicious items and local wildlife hotlines in case an injured or dead animal is discovered. Finally, there is the matter of advertising your event far and wide. You might choose posters in local shop windows or in the beach car park or opt for the power of social media. How you advertise may depend on if you want to attract mainly family and friends, the wider community or local businesses.

With all the preparation complete, the only thing left is the beach clean itself. It’s a great idea to start your clean with a short introductory talk to all your volunteers, first and foremost thanking them for giving up their time to help the local environment and explaining why the work they are doing is so essential to our oceans’ health. You should also highlight the potential safety issues you found during your risk assessment and point out what to do if they encounter wildlife on the beach. For example, seabirds and seals should be given a wide berth with noise kept to a minimum to reduce disturbance and stress; a particularly important consideration if you are in a protected wildlife area. Beach cleaners should avoid stepping on vulnerable vegetation and also leave all natural items such as seaweed, cuttlefish, feathers and shells which form an important part of the strandline habitat. Any large items should be checked before they are removed as they may have become a wildlife habitat themselves. You should also let the volunteers know what common types of waste they might find, such as plastic packaging, fishing lines and rubber, whilst telling them which items to leave untouched, such as needles and sanitary waste. If the waste problem in your area is too great to tackle in one clean, ask volunteers to focus on the waste which will not degrade, such as plastic as opposed to paper and wood. Lastly, you should direct volunteers to a safe area to clean, often between the strandline and the top of the beach away from any rocks, as well as any toilets or cafes that are available for use and arrange a time to meet back together.

Once all the litter has been gathered, you could consider collecting some data which can be submitted to different marine conservation organisations via their websites. For example, you could identify the top brands which appear in the litter as part of a brand audit. This is useful for pinpointing the top polluters in your country and provides an argument for introducing extended producer responsibility which sees these companies made legally responsible for their unrecyclable trash. Similarly, you could count which types of waste are most common, such as crisp packets or water bottles. Again, this gives us a great insight into the main sources of the plastic problem, helping us tackle them with legislation such as deposit return schemes and bans.

Once the waste has been sorted, it’s a great opportunity to take some photos which everyone can share to promote how much waste has been removed which may encourage others to join in at the next event. If you want to go the extra mile in thanking your volunteers, why not organise a group swim, beach game or round of drinks to celebrate protecting your environment and so everyone can get to know each other better. After all your hard work, it seems only right that you should all enjoy your sparkling clean beach!

If you really want to be involved in a beach clean but organisation isn’t your strong point, you can always take part in an event hosted by someone else. Even a simple two minute beach clean on your next outing can make a difference to our oceans as every one piece of litter you pick up is one piece which will avoid the hungry jaws of a whale, the playful inquisitiveness of a seal or the acrobatic leap of a dolphin.

By Neve McCracken-Heywood