5 Easy steps to beach cleaning

How to beach clean

Pembrokeshire’s beaches, I think you’ll agree, are glorious but our westerly location has its downside – plastic litter.

Some of it has been dropped locally but most of it is brought by the waves that have travelled many, many, miles collecting rubbish along the way and then dumping it on our beaches!

There are many great organisations such as Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) and Keep Wales Tidy along with the National Trust and Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority who organise BIG beach clean events in an attempt to keep up with the plastic that comes on every tide.

If you would like to volunteer your time and help out, then check out the Pembrokeshire Beach Cleans group on Facebook- they share upcoming beach cleans in Pembrokeshire and is managed by Surfers Against Sewage volunteers.

©National Trust Wales

If you can’t get to an organised event, don’t despair you could always carry out your own #MiniBeachClean or a #2minutebeachclean

Whether you’re heading to the beach on a mission to clean the whole beach or picking up items while on a family walk, every bit of plastic collected helps in the fight for #cleanseas.

Here are our easy 5 steps to a successful beach clean:

  1. Check the tides; we don’t want you to get cut off – best time is as the tides goes out, this should give you lots of time to clear the plastic it leaves behind.
  2. Wear gloves & take a bag(s) for your rubbish.
  3. Collect plastics, cans and glass (very careful if it’s broken) Look out for sharp items – if you collect fishing lines, take care there may still be hooks attached.
  4. Don’t remove any organic matter e.g. seaweed – the bugs on the beach need this! If you see any dead wildlife: birds or seals don’t remove them. A great poster had been designed to help you decide what to do – download it here.
  5. Dispose of your rubbish safely – if you collect lots & lots of rubbish that won’t fit in a normal litter bin contact Pembrokeshire County Council and they’ll collect it or even better – take it home and sort with your own recycling.

Plastic Free Communities

They say prevention is better than cure. Doing a beach clean while visiting Pembrokeshire is a brilliant way to help but if you want to do more, Surfers Against Sewage campaign ‘Plastic Free Communities’ aims to reduce the amount of plastic that could end up in our seas, by helping reduce the use of single-use plastics. A brilliant initiative that you can get stuck into when you get back home!

Thank you so much for playing your part to help clean Pembrokeshire beaches and for helping us in the fight for #cleanseas.