Volunteers wanted to help clean our beaches

A marine charity is calling for people to take part in the 25th Great British Beach Clean next month.
People taking part in a previous Marine Conservation Society beach clean.People taking part in a previous Marine Conservation Society beach clean.
People taking part in a previous Marine Conservation Society beach clean.

The annual event run by the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) takes place from September 14 to 17.

There will be 20 organised clean-ups taking place in the North East including at Blackhall Rocks (from the stack North), Crimdon beach and Seaham Hall, and so far 400 volunteers have signed up for the regional events.

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The charity says it’s helpful if people register their interest online before the event to ensure organisers have enough kit to go round!

You can register right up until the very last minute at www.mcsuk.org/beachwatch/greatbritishbeachclean, or speak to the team on 01989 566017. People can also turn up on the day.

The Great British Beach Clean is part of the MCS Beachwatch programme.

It not only spruces up hundreds of beaches around the UK coast, but volunteers also record the litter they find, and it’s this aspect that has really helped MCS change policy and behaviours over the last quarter of a century.

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Each event takes a couple of hours and, alongside the clean, 100 metres of beach are surveyed.

Lizzie Prior, MCS beach and river clean project officer, said: “Last year an amazing 794 volunteers took part in the Great British Beach Clean on beaches in the North East. We’d love to see even more people heading to the area’s beaches and helping clean up at the events that have so far been organised.”

The event is being sponsored by Waitrose for a second year and money from the supermarket’s carrier bag sales in England goes towards supporting MCS’ year round beach clean programme.