Travel Places takes part in the Great British Beach Clean

Every September, thousands of people head to their nearest coastlines armed with litter pickers and bin bags to take part in the Great British Beach Clean, organised by the Marine Conservation Society. This year, members of the Travel Places team met up on Worthing beach to join in and do their bit.

As part of the yearly initiative, volunteers are asked to do a litter survey on every clean, recording all the items of rubbish they find along a 100m stretch. This data is then used by the Marine Conservation Society to campaign for change, reducing the pollution in seas which is killing wildlife.

So far, the data has been used to make a positive impact on our ocean – including the introduction of the plastic bag charge, banning microplastics in personal care products, better wet wipe labelling, and supporting a tax on single-use plastic items.

However, there is still so much to be done. Some of the figures shared from the Marine Conservation Society from last September found there were 385 litter items per 100m of beach surveyed, and 30% of beach cleans found face masks and PPE.

At Travel Places we are lucky enough to have our head office so close to the ocean and wanted to do our bit to help keep our local beaches as clean as possible. From cigarette butts to batteries, and even half a scooter, the team worked hard over two hours removing a range of discarded litter from our beach, preventing it from harming the local environment and wildlife.

The clean was organised internally by a member of our Sustainability committee and is just the first on a list of upcoming initiatives we plan on doing to contribute positively to the environment and our local community.

Thanks to Surfers Against Sewage for providing the equipment on the day.

To find out more about our sustainability journey, click here.