SURFERS Against Sewage (SAS) conducted a series of beach cleans on beaches across the UK last month, including Bude’s Crooklets, Summerleaze and Widemouth.

Thanks to support from the Crown Estate and Greggs, SAS recruited and equipped a team of ‘lead volunteers’ who, together, led more than 250 autumn beach cleans at many of the UK’s most beautiful beaches.

SAS invited all coastal enthusiasts, from big wave surfers to young sandcastle makers, to join its local ‘Autumn Beach Clean’ until October 30, to give a little back to the precious coastal environments that are so important for the health and wellbeing of communities nationwide.

Cornwall has been announced as the best represented county in the UK, with 51 Autumn Beach Cleans taking place from Bude to Whitsand Bay.

With over 269,000 tonnes of floating plastic in the ocean, SAS recognises that the marine litter crisis cannot be eliminated with beach cleans alone, so called on all Autumn Beach Clean volunteers to help ‘beyond the beach clean’ by supporting its new ‘Message in a Bottle’ campaign, which involves recording and recycling all plastic bottles and cans found at each and every beach clean.

There are now 250 plastic bottles per kilometre of the UK’s beaches, and together with cans they make up approximately 40% of all litter, so SAS expects to record huge numbers of them this autumn.

Dom Ferris, project manager for SAS, said: “We are so incredibly proud of our lead volunteers. From the Channel Islands to the Isle of Harris and Great Yarmouth to Culmore Point in Northern Ireland, these tireless individuals set a truly inspiring example for us all.”

Gary Thompson, coastal manager from the Crown Estate, said: “As owner of around half the UK foreshore, we know that protecting and enhancing the coastal environment is crucial to the future of wildlife and the sustainable development of this natural asset over the long term.”

Raymond Reynolds of Greggs added: “We want Greggs to have a positive impact on people’s lives and believe it is our responsibility to do business in a way that brings benefits to people who shop with us, work for us, supply us, or live near us. In addition, we recognise our broader responsibility to respect the environment and reduce our impact on the world around us.

“The 5p carrier bag charge has provided us with a new source of funds, which we are using to help us achieve this and we are delighted to be working in partnership with a number of organisations, including Surfers Against Sewage, to tackle the unacceptable social problem of litter.

“Marine litter, like the litter that is generated within close proximity to our shops, is a man-made problem which has detrimental impact on both the environment and the wildlife that it encounters.”

For more information on SAS visit www.sas.org.uk/events, contact the SAS beach clean team on [email protected] or call 01872 553 001.