As part of Comserv’s social value and sustainability aims, we arranged a Corporate Beach clean in September 2024 at the beginning of the Great British Beach Clean which took place 20 – 29 September.  

*Every year, between 8 and 13 million tonnes of plastic enters our ocean. In fact, some areas of the ocean floor now have 1.9 million plastic pieces per square metre. A third of our seas are called ‘protected’ – but they’re not; in practice, less than 1% of our seas are well-managed. Litter left on our coastlines pollutes our waters and can harm our wildlife. The Marine Conservation Society’s annual Beachwatch report reveals that over 60% of all litter collected during beach clean-ups consists of single-use plastic items.

We contacted the Final Straw Foundation who are a registered charity working with local communities and businesses to highlight the impact of plastic pollution on our environment and to try to minimise the amount of plastic entering our local seas and wider oceans.

In total 16 ‘hi vis heroes’ volunteered to help out with representatives from across the organisation. We car shared down to Eastney beach where we met with Carla from the Final Straw Foundation. Carla gave us a safety briefing and issued us all with gloves, bags and pickers. We then collected 24 kg’s of waste in just two hours.

The waste included a tent, molten glass, a watch, a dead shark(!), children’s toys, door handles, and a wheel. Not to mention all of the general rubbish waste such as bottles, cans, food wrappers, cigarette butts, and much more.

Not only was it a great thing to do something for the environment, it also proved to be a fantastic team building exercise. The Final Straw then sorted through all of the waste and separated it out into items that could be donated, recycled or sent to the tip.

Comserv also made a financial donation to Final Straw to help them continue their work to protect our coastlines and countryside from the blight of plastic pollution.

If you feel inspired to get involved with a Beach Clean event, please visit the Final Straw Foundation’s website and search ‘Get Involved’ for their upcoming beach clean dates. They aim to run at least one per month at our local beaches.

*Source: Marine Conservation Society