Great British Beach Clean 2024: How your communities can get involved! 

Author: Liberty Turrell, Great British beach clean administrator at the Marine Conservation Society

Last year, Marine Conservation Society volunteers made a monumental impact by removing more than 17,000 kg of litter from across the UK and Channel Islands. This fantastic effort unveiled a distressing reality: a staggering 480,343 litter items were collected, with single-use plastics accounting for three of the top five most commonly found items. 

The data from our beach cleans highlighted that drinks-related items were recorded on 97% of beach cleans, with 72% of beach cleans finding sewage-related litter items, such as wet wipes, cotton buds and sanitary products. 

Marine pollution is one of the five main drivers of the current biodiversity crisis, threatening over one third (37%) of marine mammals with extinction. The durability of plastic means that it persists in the environment for long periods of time, breaking up into smaller pieces and harming marine life that can ingest or become entangled in it. This underscores the urgent need for continued action to combat plastic pollution and protect our marine environments.

At the Marine Conservation Society, we’re fighting for a cleaner, better protected, and healthier ocean: one we can all enjoy. We work with governments and industry to highlight the importance of our seas and campaign for change to protect and restore them, whilst working closely with local communities to inspire and empower them to take positive action for our ocean. 

Every year, we run our flagship litter-picking event, the Great British Beach Clean, to help clean up our coastline and collect vital data about the marine litter found on it. Thousands of volunteers across the UK and Channel Islands take part in this citizen science event, gathering data on marine litter which we use to campaign for ocean-positive change. Importantly, litter survey information from these beach cleans has helped us successfully campaign for the introduction of charges on single-use plastic bags and a ban on a variety of single-use plastic items, such as plastic cotton bud sticks, cutlery, straws, and certain types of polystyrene cups and food containers.

This year, the Great British Beach Clean is taking place from Friday 20 to Sunday 29 September. By joining this initiative, you’re contributing to a vital global effort to combat plastic pollution. Here’s how to get involved:

• Join a beach clean in your area: Simply enter your postcode and find a clean taking place near you.
• Organise a beach clean: Take the lead by organising a beach clean event with your community group, or family and friends. 
• Corporate support: Showcase your business’s commitment to environmental stewardship by promoting beach clean events and by taking part in or organising a beach clean with your co-workers.

This September, let’s leverage our collective expertise to make a significant impact. Your involvement matters, and together we can achieve lasting positive change for our ocean.

Find out more about how you can get involved with this year’s Great British Beach Clean, or email to register your interest and discuss your involvement.

The following blog post is for informational purposes only and should not be considered professional or legal advice. The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the National Association of Local Councils. Any links to external sources included in this blog post are provided for convenience and do not constitute endorsement or approval of those websites' content, products, services, or policies. Therefore, readers should use discretion and judgment when applying the information to their circumstances. Finally, this blog post may be updated or revised without notice.