SAS needs your hands on the beach on 24th & 25th March!

The annual SAS Big Spring Beach Clean has been removing marine litter from UK beaches for many years with the help of community volunteers. SAS are today calling on the coastal communities across the UK to join them for the SAS Big Spring Beach Clean at beaches nationwide on 24th & 25th March to help make this year’s event the biggest ever.

Spring time sadly reveals the true severity of the marine litter issue. After a long winter of storms, before local council beach cleaning operations begin for the summer season, the accumulation of litter can often seem at its worst. The amount of marine litter found on UK beaches has almost doubled in the last fifteen years, with a shocking 1,969 litter items found on every kilometre of coastline*. Typical examples of marine litter include rubbish from beach users, sewage-related debris, waste from commercial shipping, nets and fish boxes from fishing vessels and medical waste.

SAS Big Spring Beach Clean events will be led by SAS Regional Reps & SAS Lead Volunteers, with confirmed locations including:

South West England:

Great Western – Newquay – 24/03/12 – 11:00-14:00

Fistral – Newquay- NB Has been moved to 31/03/12 – 11:00 – 14:00

Has been moved to 31/03/12 – 11:00 – 14:00 Perranporth – West Cornwall – 25/03/12 – 11:00-14:00

Falmouth – East Cornwall – 24/03/12 – 11:00-14:00 (TBC PM Today)

Perranuthanoe –South Cornwall – 25/03/12 – 11:00-14:00

Mawgan Porth – North Cornwall – 24/03/12 – 11:00-14:00

Portwrinkle – South East Cornwall – 25/03/12 – 11:00-14:00

Bude – North Cornwall – 24/03/12 – 11:00-14:00

Saunton – North Devon – 25/03/12 – 11:00-14:00

Mothecombe – Devon – 25/03/12 – 11:00-14:00

Exmouth – Devon – 25/03/12 – 11:00-14:00

Burnham-on-Sea – Somerset – 24/03/12 – 11:00-14:00

Minehead – Somerset- 25/03/12 – 11:00-14:00

South Coast of England:

Kimmeridge – Dorset – 25/03/12 – 13:00-15:00

Isle Of Wight – 25/03/12 – 15:00-17:00

Brighton – 25/03/12 – 11:00-14:00

Brighton – Rottingdean Beach – 25/03/12 – 10:00-12:00

Brighton – Saltdean – 25/03/12 – 16:00-18:00

Bournemouth – 25/03/12 – 11:00-14:00

Southend – Jubilee Beach – 24/03/12 – 11:00-14:00

Hengistbury Head, Bournemouth – 25/03/12 – 11:00-14:00

North East of England:

Mablethorpe – Sandilands – 24/03/12 11:00-14:00

Saltburn – 24/03/12 – 11:00-14:00

Scarborough – 25/03/12 – 11:00-14:00

Tynemouth – Longsands – 25/03/12 – 12:00-15:00

North West England:

East Kirby – Wirral – 25/03/12 – 11:00-14:00

Scotland:

Pease Bay – East Lothian – 24/03/12 – 11:00-14:00

Dunbar – East Lothian – 25/03/12 – 11:00-14:00

Newhaven – Wardie Bay- 24/03/12 – 11:00-14:00

Machrihanish – 25/03/12 – 10:00-13:00

Isle of Skye – Talisker – 24/03/12 – 11:00-14:00

Northern Ireland:

Portrush – White Rocks – 24/03/12 – 11:00-14:00

Wales:

Newgale – Pembrokeshire – 24/03/12 – 10:00-13:00

Rest Bay – Bridgend – 24/03/12 – 11:00-14:00

Coney Beach – Bridgend – 25/03/12 – 11:00-14:00

Llantwit Major – Bridgend – 24/03/12 – 11:00-14:00

Abersoch – Hells Mouth – North Wales – 25/03/12 – 11:00-14:00

The SAS Big Spring Beach Clean helps tackle the growing problem of marine litter with the help of regional reps, supporters, SAS members and coastal community volunteers. This year SAS is encouraging dedicated volunteers to organise their own beach clean events, offering support and equipment to help empower communities to take positive action to protect local beaches, surf spots and waterways.

SAS Big Spring Beach Clean events also confront the worsening marine litter crisis through the promotion of SAS initiatives such as No Butts on the Beach, Return To Offender and Think Before You Flush. These encourage further individual and corporate action once the beach clean has finished ultimately helping reduce the amount of litter finding its way onto the beach can into the sea.

The Big Spring Beach Clean will take place between 11am and 2pm on 24th & 25th March 2012, so get ready to roll up your sleeves for UK beaches. For more information on confirmed locations or to register your event please contact Steve Hagan on 01872 555 950 or email [email protected]

* Statistics taken from the 2010 MCS Beachwatch survey

Notes

Please note that all official SAS Big Spring Beach Clean organisers will need to fill out an SAS risk assessment document. Once officially registered SAS will notify the council of your event & anticipated volunteer numbers. All organisers must follow SAS’s health and safety advice and briefing instructions. All organisers must ensure they dispose of rubbish collected properly, either by liaising with the local council or taking it to the local refuse disposal & recycling site. Surfers Against Sewage conforms to statutory requirements with regard to employer’s liability and this covers volunteers on beach clean activities.

Materials provided by SAS to volunteers organising beach cleans:

SAS Big Spring Beach Clean Posters

SAS Big Beach Clean – organisers’ guide (Including risk assessments, public liability insurance cover and volunteer health and saftey briefing advice)

Digital Big Spring Beach Clean artwork SAS Stickers

Think Before You Flush

No Butts On The Beach

SAS Eye Logo

Heavy duty gloves

Degradable bin bags

SAS marine litter guides

Over the past few years SAS has seen a dramatic rise in the number of community volunteers getting involved with our beach clean programmes. Communities want to play their part in tackling the marine litter crisis affecting beautiful beaches everywhere, a visible indicator of the ecological disaster happening in our oceans. The SAS Big Spring Beach Clean empowers communities and educates the public on making an on-going positive difference to coastlines.

Hugo Tagholm, SAS Executive Director