Orkney folk urged to ‘adopt a beach’ for 2019 clean-up

The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) is appealing for people in Orkney adopt a local beach and lead a clean-up and survey during this year’s Great British Beach Clean.

This year’s beach clean will run from September 20 to 23.

The MCS says last year’s beach cleans saw volunteers pick up over 600 items of litter for every 100m of UK coastline surveyed. Just short of 15,000 volunteers took part — double the number in 2017.

“Cleaning so many individual beaches last year was a fabulous achievement by our volunteer cleaners and organisers,” said Lizzie Prior, MCS Beachwatch Officer.

“But we know that it’s only the tip of the iceberg. There are hundreds and hundreds of beaches around our coasts that have never been cleaned and surveyed — and it’s the collection of this data that is so important to getting even more positive actions implemented than have already been achieved in the last year or so.”

“This year we’re appealing for more people to adopt a beach and become one of our army of beach clean organisers.”

“It’s an absolutely vital role because the more beaches we have litter data for, the clearer the picture we will have of where it all comes from and what needs to be targeted next.”

Anyone interested in becoming involved with this year’s Great British Beach Clean simply has to find a beach they want to clean, sign up and register it on the MCS online system and MCS will provide them with all the help they need to get going.

“We hope to have even more people cleaning up Britain’s beaches this September than we did last year, so registering your events with us soon is invaluable,” added Lizzie Prior.