Pembrokeshire Beach Cleans

Pembrokeshire has some of the best beaches in the UK, and they are all protected by their National Park status; however, due to their westerly location, these beautiful shorelines are often littered with plastic waste.

There is no denying some of it will have been dropped by visitors, but the vast majority has travelled thousands of miles by sea before being swept ashore.

There are already many wonderful organisations, such as Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) and Keep Wales Tidy, along with the National Trust and Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority, who organise huge beach cleaning events in an attempt to keep up with the plastic pollution that comes in on every tide but you can also join in.

If you would like to volunteer your time, the Pembrokeshire Beach Cleans group on Facebook shares upcoming beach cleans in Pembrokeshire. If you can’t attend an organised event, you can always carry out your own mini beach cleaning session. Whether you’re on a mission to clean the whole beach or just picking up items while out on a family walk, every bit of plastic collected helps in the fight towards cleaner seas.

5 Tips for A Successful Beach Clean

1. Check the tides - The best time for a beach clean is as the tide goes out. This gives you time to clear the rubbish left behind and prevents you from getting cut off, so use a Tide Table to make sure you know when to start.

1. Take supplies - Wear protective gloves and have plenty of suitable bags so you can collect as much as possible. A litter-picking device will also make the job easier.

1. Stay safe - Collecting rubbish can be dangerous, so lookout for bits of broken plastics, metal, and glass, as well as sharp items like fishing lines with hooks attached.

1. Dispose of rubbish correctly - If what you collect won’t fit in a normal litter bin, please contact Pembrokeshire County Council so they can collect it, or even better, take it home and sort it with your own household recycling.

1. Wildlife on the beach - Never remove organic matter like seaweed, and if you see any distressed or dead wildlife, such as birds or seals, please report it immediately to the correct organisation.

Do Your Bit to Reduce the Use of Single-Use Plastics

Doing a beach clean while visiting Pembrokeshire is a brilliant way to help the local community, but if you want to do even more, Surfers Against Sewage have created a Plastic Free Communities network that aims to reduce the amount of plastic that ends up in our seas by helping you reduce the use of single-use plastics in your daily life wherever you may live.