Caledonian Horticulture are working together with Lil and our wonderful local community groups to co-ordinate a clean up of the entire coastline from Edinburgh to Berwick-upon-Tweed between 5th & 8th June.
OUR AIMS
We will use the sorted waste to highlight the big offenders and to use it to help demonstrate to those responsible that they need to help find solutions.
By all of us working together, we can achieve:
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All waste will be counted/weighed in with the results published
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All waste that can be, will be sent for recycling
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Highlight how much litter is ending up in our seas and ways to prevent this
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Marine Litter Art will be created and displayed at Fringe by the Sea with information about the beach clean and on preventing rubbish getting into the sea in the first place
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Celebrate all the organisations and individuals that work so hard to keep our beaches and coastline clean and free from litter
HOW TO GET INVOLVED
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Join the BIG Beach Clean Facebook Group to keep up to date will all the info, if you’re not on Facebook please email kate@frmrecycling.co.uk for more information.
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Please join our interactive Ether map – just pop a pin on the area you will be cleaning. Add some details in the description like the group name, what day(s) and time you will be cleaning.
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Think about how you’ll best collect your waste. Caledonian Horticulture can provide small plastic sacks (around 40L) for volunteer to use on the beaches and builders bags (around 850L) that can be filled with the smaller bags. These will be collected from you – please contact kate@frmrecycling.co.uk to arrange.
Alternatively, if you wish to be involved in the sorting of the waste, you can bring what you have collected along to East Fenton Composting Site – EH39 5AH.
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Check the Facebook group or this page to ensure you have thought about Covid and other safety checks.
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PROMOTE your involvement. Send emails, facebook events, carrier pigeons, get as many folk along as you can.
IMPORTANT
When you’re cleaning your beach, be safe. Have a look at our guidelines below, but always remember to pick with care – this means beware sharp and hazardous objects, leave any liquids inside bottles, check old BBQs are not hot, wear gloves or use litter-pickers, or at a minimum wash your hands with soap and water immediately after. Always take care at the beach, check the tides and other hazards.
The BIG Beach Clean FAQs
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?
Beach cleans give us a snapshot of the state of our oceans. Most litter sinks – typically less than 15% of the sea’s litter will float, or be washed ashore. But picking up that litter gives us a good idea of what’s out there, what the worst offenders are, and how we can help reduce that waste. It’s also a great day out – you’ll feel good for doing good, get outside and have a giggle or good chats about “OMG you found what?!”
I NEED GLOVES/PICKERS – WHERE DO I GO?
We want everyone to be safe, so this is a great idea. If you have gardening gloves at home, could you use these? Lil has a limited number of litter picking gloves and tools available, and we’ll be seeing what more we can source. Get in touch hello@dolilthings.org
HOW DO YOU WANT US TO DO THIS?
However suits you and your group best. Some groups are setting a meeting place and time, others are letting their pickers know where to bring their rubbish to once collected, and allowing people to go out anytime that suits them over the weekend. It’s whatever works best for each group. We do ask that you pop a pin to show the main area of focus, just so we can help mop up any areas that aren’t covered.
WHY DON’T WE JUST DO OUR OWN CLEAN?
Numbers and statistics help make a greater case for change. If we can show how much we’ve collected from the entire coastline, we can together make a bigger noise for change – we need to turn this litter off at the tap, to not need future beach cleans. You sharing your litter with us will help that fight.
WHAT IF WE FIND SOMETHING THAT’S TOO BIG TO CARRY?
We have some super volunteers heading out in boats and vehicles for exactly these items. We would ask that you use the What3Words app to specify the location and email the location and details of what to pick up to kate@frmrecycling.co.uk