Great British Beach Clean
What is the Great British Beach Clean?
The Great British Beach Clean is a week-long citizen science event.
The campaign, run by the Marine Conservation Society, encourages volunteers to sign up for beach cleans up and down the country; they also ask people to run a litter survey by recording all the items of rubbish found in a 100m stretch and use this data to campaign for real change.
Why participate in the Great British Beach Clean?
In 2021 over 6000 people took part in a Great British Clean collecting a total of 4064.8 kg of litter!
Litter can harm wildlife. The RSPCA received 7,400 calls to report incidents of animals injured by litter in 2018 in England and Wales. Around 80% of the plastic in our oceans comes from litter dropped inland – you can be part of the solution and help ensure the plastic doesn’t reach the sea!
Taking part in the Great British Beach Clean is also good for your own well-being and connecting with others in your community.
How can I take part?
During the campaign you can join a beach clean or organise your own by visiting Marine Conservation Society / Find a beach clean.
Alternatively there are #2minutebeachclean stations placed around the main beaches across the Dover District, which encourage beach users to spare two minutes to carry out a beach clean.
Details of the 2023 campaign will follow.
2021 Campaign
The 2021 Great British Beach Clean campaign ran from 17th to 26th September.
Full results of the campaign can be found at Great British Beach Clean 2021 results
The Environmental Crime Team hosted two community events to help raise awareness of how important it is to keep our beaches free from litter. These events took place on Walmer Green and along Dover Seafront.
Members of the Environmental Crime Team also conducted litter picks along beaches in both Deal and Kingsdown.
2022 Campaign
The 2022 Great British Beach Clean campaign ran from 16th to 25th September.
Full results of the campaign can be found at Great British Beach Clean 2022 results
Members of the Environmental Crime Team conducted a beach clean in Walmer.
Members of the Environmental Crime Team attended the Urban Fete in Pencester Park, Dover on Saturday 24th September 2022 where there was fun beach themed activities for everyone to enjoy.
Litter and Fly Tipping
If litter and fly tipping is an issue in your area, we would encourage you to report this to us. We can arrange for the area to be cleansed by our street cleansing team in publicly maintained areas and arrange for our Environmental Enforcement Officers to conduct patrols to help tackle the issues experienced
Want to do even more by becoming a Community Caretaker?
A Community Caretaker is a volunteer who gives up their spare time to help the community.
Community Caretakers can help with anything which helps the local community, including:
- litter picking
- painting
- planting
- sweeping
- repairs
- clearing snow
Community Caretakers have access to community stores. A community store is a local unit holding tools, materials, equipment and protective clothing.
For further information on the Community Caretakers Scheme please visit Community-Caretakers