Great British Beach Clean 2025 is almost here!

The Marine Conservation Society’s annual Great British Beach Clean takes place this year between 19 and 28 September.

The marine charity’s programme is one of the largest citizen science activities of its kind across the UK. Each year, thousands of volunteers help to not only clear the UK’s beaches of litter, but also assist MCS scientists in gathering data about the types of litter items most prevalent across the UK’s coastline.

Analysis of the data can provide information to government policymakers to help drive changes, such as plastic bag charges, which have seen an average drop of 80 per cent in UK beach litter.

The charity’s supporting sponsor this year, holidaycottages.co.uk, will be taking part in beach cleans across UK.

‘We’re incredibly proud to be sponsoring the Marine Conservation Society’s annual Great British Beach Clean,’ said Kieran Keohane, Head of Sustainability at holidaycottages.co.uk.

‘With over half of our cottages located by the coast, we’re naturally passionate about protecting UK coastlines and spotlighting the need for collective action.

‘This September, we’ll support around 500 beach cleaning events where close to 6,000 people will work to stop as much litter entering our ocean as possible, and we’re honoured to be partnering with the Marine Conservation Society to drive real change.’

During last year’s event, 5,845 volunteers took part in 476 beach cleans over 10 days, gathering 249,823 pieces of litter, weighing a total of 6,048 kilograms.

Data collected during the 2024 clean found that plastic still remains the most prevalent form of litter, and had risen by 9.5 per cent across UK beaches, as published in the MCS annual State of our Beaches report.

‘The data collected by our volunteers during beach cleans is vital,’ said Lizzie Price, MCS Beachwatch Manager. ‘It not only reveals what’s ending up on our shores, but also helps us understand the scale and sources of ocean pollution.

‘This evidence is essential for shaping effective, targeted policies. We’ve already seen how measures like the carrier bag charges can reduce beach litter – but to tackle the full scale of single-use items, we must continue to use this data to drive change.’

Beach cleans are taking place all across the UK – to locate and sign up for an event near you, or organise your own, head to the MCS Great British Beach Clean webpage.

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