Call To Arms For Biggest Ever UK Wide Beach Clean

Thousands of volunteers are being called upon to help out with the UK's biggest ever nationwide beach clean operation.

Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) are recruiting volunteers to help with their Big Spring Beach Clean, running from April 11- 17. They are hoping to rally more than 7,500 people to remove tonnes upon tonnes of marine litter from 200 beaches from Land's End to the Isle of Skye.

Collection of rubbish from Perranporth.

This year, all the rubbish collected will be sent straight to SAS HQ, where it will fill a 20 foot shipping container – capable of holding 38,500 single-use water bottles. Think about that, that's almost 40,000 plastic bottles no longer on our beaches. The waste materials will then be sent off to Parley for the Oceans – who have teamed up with SAS – and will recycle all that is sent to them. Sounds like a win, win situation.

Can you help fill this container with marine litter - which will then be sent off for recycling.

Hugo Tagholm, chief executive of Surfers Against Sewage said: ''Surfers Against Sewage is delighted to be collaborating with Parley For the Oceans, and engaging communities with projects to stop the flow of plastic into our seas. The single-use plastic vandalism of our coastlines has to stop and plastics valued as a resource we can’t afford to let accumulate in the marine environment.”

The Big Spring Beach Clean continues to grow each year and is now the single biggest week of beach clean-up activity in the UK. And at least you know that if you remove a piece of litter and it's sent to Parley, it's not going to plague your local break again.

Volunteers from last year's clean up comb the beach for marine nasties.

Cyrill Gutsch, founder of Parley for the Oceans says: “Current plastic is a design failure. It needs to go. But this can’t happen overnight. We need to avoid plastic wherever we can, stop producing more of it, and retrieve and revive what has already ended up in nature. But to solve the problem for good, we have to invent a new material. Collaboration is the magic formula, because nobody can solve this complex problem alone. With Surfers Against Sewage, we found the impactful partner we need. Together we can turn this around.”

Marine litter is a huge problem for our coastline.

Beach cleans will be taking place across the UK from as far west as Sennen in Cornwall to the Isle of Skye, so it's likely there's one close to where you live. To find your local event click here visit or contact SAS directly at beachcleans@sas.org.uk. There’s no need to register, just dress appropriately, head down to the beach and say hello to the lead volunteer.