Take Action With Return To Offender

We are encouraging all our supporters to TAKE ACTION in 2013 and be an active part of SAS’s award winning anti beach litter campaign Return To Offender, which has now seen us send over 2000 items back to the producers. The Return To Offender campaign challenges companies whose litter is found on UK beaches to:

• To step up ‘the anti-littering’ message on your products
• To look at using less harmful packaging to ensure products can be broken down naturally without putting wildlife at risk
• To promote recycling and/or reuse wherever appropriate
• To support community beach litter initiatives or anti-litter projects

Since it’s launch in 2006 the Return To Offender campaign has gone from strength to strength; winning  the Coast award for ‘Best Blue Green Campaign’ in 2009. More recently Haribo have responded directly to our RTO campaign challenge and have stepped up their anti-litter messaging on packaging, replacing the universal ‘Litter Man’ icon with their own, far larger ’Golden Bear’. Meaning that the anti litter message is far more accessible to the young people who use their products. With your help this campaign can continue to make a real difference to what we find on our beaches, you’re not only an environmentalist, you’re a consumer, and so these big companies will listen to what you have to say. To get involved simply follow the steps below;

You Can Return To Offender

• Keep an eye out for identifiable marine litter whenever you are at the beach
• Download your own SAS Return To Offender campaign message (Word Doc format) and fill in the spaces with the details of where you found the beach litter
• Download the Offender Addresses and find the manufacturer that makes your beach litter and post it off (take care to trace the big company that owns the brand, E.g. Cadbury is owned by Kraft!). We know postage can be expensive so we have also provided Freepost addresses for members of the “Dirty Dozen” worst offenders and some others
• If you are able to,  please email  dom@sas.org.uk with photos and details of the litter you Return To Offender

SAS’s Dirty Dozen

The table below shows the worst offenders, those companies whose products we are finding the most on our precious beaches. however our focus in 2013 will be on companies such as Pepsico UK and Bookers Ltd who have refused to take this issue seriously so far.

If you have any queries on the Return To Offender campaign please email dom@sas.org.uk or call 01872 553 001