Cleansed, cleaned, and looking to the future
Day of Action highlights both the plastic problem we face and the community spirit that came together to tackle it across North Devon and Torridge.
Our Cleanse and Clean Day of Action on Saturday 29 January 2022 was a huge success, bringing together individuals, families, and community groups to enjoy the benefits of nature at the same time as giving a little back by cleaning up. The day was a highlight of our month-long Cleanse and Clean campaign and part of our mission to protect and improve our environment through community-led action.
583kg of rubbish were collected, 10 organised community cleans took place, and at least 157 volunteers across northern Devon took part.
Some of the stranger finds included a Christmas slipper, a mophead hanging in a tree, and a seal’s jawbone, complete with tooth. Some of the more common finds included the usual suspects of food packaging, disposable facemasks, microplastics, cigarette butts, and ‘ghost gear’ such as fishing rope and nets.
Some of these items are single use, and some are even effectively zero use - the little plastic pellets you often find washed up along the tideline are called ‘nurdles’, and are raw, unused plastic that got washed down the drain before it even had a chance to be used once.
Anne-Marie Eveleigh, PFND Director of Operations, summed up the day:
“First off we want to say a huge thank you to everyone who joined us at various locations and on their own cleans on Saturday and throughout the whole month. It’s been so inspiring to see so many people getting involved and we already have groups pledging to continue with their own community cleans throughout the year or joining in with our regular cleans, which is amazing.
What all the items we found have in common (apart from the seal’s jawbone) is that they will be with us for a very long time, polluting our environment and posing a threat to wildlife. Amongst Saturday’s haul was a plastic playmobil character from 1981, and at previous beach cleans we’ve found crisp and sweet wrappers dating as far back as the 1960s.
So it’s always a bit of a wake up call in terms of how we need to adapt our behaviour and move away from disposable culture. We don’t just need to do better as individuals, we need to ask for better from businesses, big corporations, and governments. Why is plastic production set to quadruple by 2050 when we know how detrimental it is? The answers are complex but that won’t stop us fighting against it. We know that people care. ”
Feedback on the day included words like ‘exhilarated’, ‘inspired’, ‘happy’, and ‘proud’, but with participants also noting sadness at seeing the volume of rubbish they were finding. And this is part of the point of the campaign, to galvanise the local community into taking action to protect our environment by encouraging them to reconnect with nature - benefitting from the positive effects that spending time in green spaces like parks, or ‘blue’ spaces by water like rivers or oceans, can have on our physical, mental, and emotional health, and taking pride in looking after those spaces. The more we connect with nature, the more we’re inspired to want to protect it.
PFND Cleanse and Clean Ambassador and local advocate for blue health through her ‘Social Swim Group’, Danielle Ash shares her reflections:
“It’s brilliant that we were able to make such a visible difference on the day, but as a regular volunteer I see so much rubbish appearing on a regular basis, often in the same areas. It really makes you start to wonder where it comes from, and how we can change some of our habits to create less of it in the first place. Simple swaps like using refillable bottles and not buying packaged fruit and veg can really add up over time, but it’s not just individuals’ responsibility - the ultimate responsibility lies with industry, government, and big business.”
Our annual campaign was supported this year by local companies dryrobe®, who donated three of their dryrobe® Advance robes as prizes for the Cleanse and Clean competition (winners to be announced soon), and Coast and Moor Coffee.
Although this year’s Cleanse and Clean campaign is finished, there are loads of ways that you can get involved with the charity’s work, whether that’s by volunteering or by taking small steps in your personal life and businesses, with the wider implications of climate change and climate justice in mind
What else can we do?
Shout out the amazing climate work being carried out around the world by charities and organisations like Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, XR, Sea Shepherd, Ocean Rebellion, SAS - celebrate what they are trying to do for us.
Talk about it, engage, and take action - this is your chance to continue your journey of discovery as Guardians of the Natural World we’ve inherited and will pass on to future generations
Build a plastic-free life - head to our website for tips on how to make small changes in our own lives
Campaign for climate justice for people around the world, for all those who have not caused this - climate change disproportionately impacts on poorer people and people of colour
Write to or message your MP and make sure they know how much this matters to you and to all of us
Always vote with your values in mind
You can also contact your local shops and supermarkets asking them to reduce unnecessary packaging and sign this petition from Greenpeace asking the larger supermarkets to step up their game too: https://action.greenpeace.org.uk/plastic-free-supermarkets.