Still time to join Marine Clean Cymru!

With less than a week to go, there’s still time to dust off those trusty litter pickers and pledge your support to Marine Clean Cymru.

Our autumn clean-up campaign is making a real splash, targeting rivers, waterways, and beaches across Wales. Almost 100 clean-up events are already registered across the country with more in the pipeline before the final day on Sunday 9 October.

We’d like to thank the amazing volunteers, community groups, businesses and schools that have already been busy picking. Now is your chance to assemble your team of litter picking heroes and register your own event or join one of ours:

Sign-up to one of our clean-up events in your area.

Marine Clean Cymru kicked off in a big way in Powys with the River Severn Custodians.

All of the participants were pleasantly surprised at how little litter we found along the river path and town park – most notable was a discarded duvet. The canoe club joined us in-river, so we managed to ‘rescue’ a shed door, 2 traffic cones and a road sign out of the river and the cones and sign were returned to PCC highways dept for reuse!

Jodie Griffiths
Keep Wales Tidy Powys Project Officer

Mammoth effort in Newport with over 400 bags of litter collected from River Usk in partnership with Liberty Steel and Natural Resources Wales.

What a way to kick off Marine Clean Cymru with well over 400 bags and equivalent in bulky items. Absolutely fantastic effort by everyone involved, including Newport City Council, Newport Norse and all the volunteers on the day who made this possible. A big shout out to Steve Preddy for being the driving force behind the clean-up.

Matthew Sellwood
Keep Wales Tidy Newport Project Officer

A group of volunteers as well as pupils from Lôn Las Primary School in Llansamlet in Swansea took part in our Marine Clean Cymru campaign in partnership with the Marine Conservation Society on Llansteffan Beach.

I hate to see the local area scattered with litter so we've put a group together called the 'Clear Up Crew' and every couple of weeks do a litter pick.

Rhian Worrell
A regular litter picker

In Pembrokeshire, Valero Oil refinery brought together both a Marine clean Cymru and The Great Global Nurdle Hunt campaign along the beautiful shoes of Freshwater West.

“The beach clean was a great opportunity to join in with The Big Green Week and Marine Clean Cymru with The Great Global Nurdle Hunt to raise awareness and collect evidence of nurdle pollution to submit so the data can be used to implement legislation and policies for industry change. there were hundreds of nurdles and bio beads to be seen amongst the pebbles, caught in seaweed, and lying on top of the fine sand. As well as a bucket of microplastics, fishing litter, sewage litter and the usual bottle tops etc we managed to get 616 nurdles and bio beads off the beach.”

Julie Davies
Valero team member

A Marine Clean Cymru event, in partnership with Natural Resources Wales and Anglesey County Council, saw 10 hardy volunteers brave the elements to clear marine waste from Traeth Llanddwyn, close to Trwyn Abermenai. They collected over 30 bags and larger items.

A huge amount of marine litter collects at Abermenai, which brings the problem into sharp focus. We cleared a vast amount, which was very satisfying, but sadly there will always be more to do. Most of the litter was plastic waste and ropes – let’s hope for more sustainable products in future which cause less waste. In the meantime, working alongside other beach clean volunteers is a great way of spending a day – improving the environment while getting plenty of fresh air and exercise.

Helen
A volunteer at the event

Marine Clean Cymru received funding through the Welsh Government Rural Communities – Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, which is funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the Welsh Government.