The Great Dorset Beach Clean is back for 2022 and will take place over the week of April 2-10, coinciding with the first weekend of the Easter holiday.
Organised by Litter Free Dorset, this will be the 32nd annual Great Dorset Beach Clean. No less than 16 beach cleans are being organised for the event, and each one will be hosted by local organisations and community groups along the Dorset Coast, from Lyme Regis to Christchurch.
Sophie Colley, Litter Free Dorset’s coordinator, said: “Get involved with this year’s Great Dorset Beach Clean to have some fun, meet like-minded people from the community and take part in an Easter litter hunt.
“Help us clear up our beaches prior to the summer season so we can spread the message that in Dorset we like to keep our beaches clean.”
Last year’s 2021 Great Dorset Beach Clean saw more than 300 volunteers take part. Thanks to the hard work of local volunteers, the event cleared 165 bags of rubbish including tyres, buried rusty lobster pots, tents, oil drums and a gazebo from Dorset’s beaches.
Cleaning up the beautiful coastline will not only prevent new materials from entering our marine environment, but it will also help to remove materials and degrading plastics washed ashore that may have been in the sea for many years. Over time, plastics break up into lots of smaller pieces, becoming harder to remove from the marine environment. While larger littered items can entrap and entangle marine life, smaller pieces can be easily ingested, also causing harm.
She added: “By taking part in this year’s Great Dorset Beach Clean, you’ll be working alongside other brilliant volunteers to extract and prevent litter from entering/returning into our oceans, positively impacting our local bathing water quality and the marine life within it.”
Lizzie Prior, beach-watch manager at the Marine Conservation Society, said: “The Great Dorset Beach Clean is a fantastic project and we’re really pleased to be involved in this year’s events.
“Getting involved in beach-cleaning projects is a fantastic way to get outdoors, give back and protect our ocean.”
Anyone who would like to join this year’s Great Dorset Beach Clean is invited to check out Litter Free Dorset’s social media platforms to stay updated and to find a beach clean near you:
Facebook @LitterFreeDorset
Instagram @litterfreedorset
Twitter @LitterFreeDrst