We have secured an unrivalled and unprecedented level real-time water quality information from the UK’s secretive water industry.  In only it’s 3^rd year, our Sewage Alert Service will provide beach users with free real time information on raw sewage discharges available at almost 200 UK beaches from 15^th May, the start of the bathing season.  The Sewage Alert Service provides beach users with free real time SMS messages and web updates after raw sewage discharges from Combined Sewage Overflows (CSOs).  After years of focused campaigning on the impacts of CSOs, we have persuaded water companies to provide real time sewage spill data.  In 2011, just 50 beaches were included in the Sewage Alert Service, generating an astonishing 80,000 free sewage alert messages warning beach users when their favourite beach was polluted.  According to a Defra survey, our real time sewage alerts helped change the behaviour of 94% of the beach users receiving real time warnings.  

Sign up for your free alerts here

We have consistently campaigned for more transparency about the frequency and impact raw sewage discharges on UK beaches and bathing waters.  The Sewage Alert Service is not only a vital public health service, protecting surfers, swimmers and beach users from sewage pollution and associated health threats, but will help map out problem CSOs in need of more investment.  This vital real time service informs subscribers of impacts on water quality as they happen in contrast to other water quality information which is often a year old.    

For many years, we encountered fierce opposition from water companies when requesting this information, but with tenacious campaigning we have successfully persuaded the majority of water companies, regulators and politicians to support and promote this pioneering initiative. 

 In 2010 we used the Blue Flag scheme as a driver for these improvements exposing shortcomings in the programme and calling for 35 Blue Flags to be removed from beaches around the UK.  Since then we have worked with Keep Britain Tidy to ensure their Blue Flag beaches are capable of warning beach users when there is a raw sewage spill from a CSO.

 We piloted the Sewage Alert Service with just 2 beaches in 2010, which grew swiftly to cover over 50 locations in 2011.  In 2012 we are very proud to announce that figure has again soared to now almost 200 beaches.  That’s over a third of the UK’s bathing waters.  Sign up for your free real time alerts and visit our CSO map at www.sas.org.uk/map

 To date we have been alone in providing this information to beach users via text messages however we are encouraged to see water companies now replicating our service and providing their own SMS monitoring alerts. We believe all bathing waters should be covered in this way.

 SAS Campaign Director, Andy Cummins says:  “It’s vital that beach users know when raw sewage is in the sea and our Sewage Alert Service has proven to successfully influence beach users’ behaviour.  SAS continue to expose the impacts of CSOs and water users are now able to access information to help them avoid exposing themselves to raw sewage polluted waters.”

SAS would like to thank Rip Curl Planet, Firetext and Fruitcake designs for supporting this ground-breaking water quality initiative.

For a full list of beaches included in the Sewage Alert Service and to sign up to the system click here:

SAS is proud to announce Porthleven as the World’s first Think Before You Flush Town. Working closely with the Environment Agency, SAS successfully engaged the Porthleven community with the TBYF campaign, empowering them protect local beaches from unwanted sewage discharges and sanitary waste.  

SAS was joined by one of the UK’s best professional surfers, Alan Stokes, who officially granted Porthleven its new title at a recent council meeting. Alan said “Our beaches are precious to many of us.  And Porthleven, with its great waves is extra special to the surfing community.   We can all make small changes in our behaviour to better protect our beaches from raw sewage discharges and prevent unsightly sanitary waste washing up on the next tideline.  Simply think before you flush, and never use the toilet to dispose of sanitary products.”

Porthleven won the accolade as the country’s first TBYF Town with over 65 local businesses participating in the initiative by displaying TBYF posters, stickers and information leaflets prominently in their premises.  The initiative received the backing from Porthleven Town council, Keep Britain Tidy, Visit Cornwall and Cornwall Council, and with the support of County Hall, TBYF material will be displayed in public conveniences throughout Cornwall.

As part of the programme, SAS also delivered an entertaining and engaging presentation on TBYF at Porthleven School to raise awareness amongst local students.  

Ultimately, SAS hopes that the TBYF Town model will be replicated across the South West and then nationally, helping keep more beautiful beaches free of sanitary waste.

Environment Agency, Environmental Monitoring Team Leader, Claudine Fontier says:  “The majority of sewers in England and Wales are “combined sewers” and carry both sewage and surface water from roofs and drains. A storm overflow operates during heavy rainfall when the sewerage system becomes overwhelmed by the amount of surface water. The overflow prevents sewage from backing up pipes and flooding properties and gardens. An emergency overflow will only operate infrequently, for example due to pump failure or blockage in the sewerage system.

There are emergency/storm overflows from the pumping stations at Porthleven Harbour, Breageside, and Harbour Tank. If the sewerage system becomes blocked by sewage related debris the operation of these overflows can lead to a drop in bathing water quality at Porthleven. We are pleased to be able to support the TBYF campaign to ensure a reduction in sanitary waste disposal into the sewerage system which in turn will improve local bathing water quality at Porthleven .”

Larger items such as sanitary towels and tampons block sewage screens, pumps and pipes within sewage treatment works, reducing the flow and effectiveness of the system. This can result in sewage overflows onto our beaches and into our rivers through combined sewer overflows, or even into our homes and gardens as the system overloads. Water companies spend a lot of money and time unblocking the system, funds that could be better spent on improvements!

The TBYF message is simple; the only things that should ever be flushed down a toilet are those that have passed through your own body and the paper you use to wipe your behind!

Director of Visit Cornwall, Malcolm Bell had this to say “Our coast and beaches are our greatest assets and ones that are truly treasured by 4 million visitors a year.  Your help in reducing unwanted and unsightly sanitary waste on our beaches by promoting the ‘Think Before You Flush’ campaign is vital to our future success so please help us get the message through.”

Thank you to the Environment Agency for their support and Chris Betty for all his hard work on the project.

 Ben Fogle said: “I’m a huge lover of Britain’s coastline so when I was asked to be the ambassador for the Barefoot Wine Beach Rescue Project I jumped at the chance. We have such beautiful beaches here in the UK and during this campaign with Barefoot Wine and Surfers Against Sewage, I’ll be asking as many people as possible to come down to one of our events and keep their local beach ‘barefoot friendly’.”

The 2011 Barefoot Wine Beach Rescue Project saw over 1100 volunteers remove 2.5 tonnes of litter from the UK’s coastline, and 2012’s series of events aims to encourage more people to keep the UK’s beaches barefoot friendly. To register for an event please contact Dom Ferris on dom@sas.org.uk. Volunteers will learn more about SAS’s year round environmental projects and spend an afternoon collecting litter along their local beach, and end the day with a celebratory glass of Barefoot Wine.

SAS Campaign Officer, Dom Ferris says: “Here at SAS we witness the impact that marine litter is having on our beaches every day. The Barefoot Wine Beach Rescue Project will give the UK’s coastal communities another opportunity to make a real and noticeable difference to the health of our precious coastline.”

Britain has the thirteenth longest coastline in the world and our beaches provide a fantastic day out for everyone but currently there are almost 2,000 items of marine litter for every km of the UK’s beaches. One of the most found items of litter is cigarette butts with approximately 4.5 Trillion cigarette butts are littered across the world each year. Laid down end-to-end they would reach around Great Britain’s coastline over 4000 times.

“Barefoot Wine is very proud to be working with Surfers Against Sewage for the fifth year in a row to help keep Britain’s beaches ‘barefoot friendly’”, said Barefoot Wine Marketing Manager, Yona Ellis. “Ben Fogle will be a great inspiration to people in 2012, which is set to be our biggest and most exciting year so far. All our Barefooters are really looking forward to helping out at the clean ups and then thanking our volunteers with a well deserved glass of Barefoot Wine!”

Event Details

To register for this or any of the other 13 events, please contact Dom Ferris on dom@sas.org.uk or call 01872 555 953.

• Sat April 14th Bournemouth 2 – 5pm (Meet for briefing at 2pm) Hengistbury Head – At the end of the path from the main car park – BH6 4EN
• Sun April 15th Birmingham 2 – 5pm (Meet for briefing at 2pm) Sea life centre – Brindley Place – On Canal – B1 2JB
• Friday May 4th Falmouth 2 – 5pm (Meet for briefing at 2pm) Swanpool and Gyllyngvase – Next to Swanpool Beach Café – TR11 5BG
• Sat May 5th Cornwall 2 – 5pm (Meet for briefing at 2pm) Pothtowan – In front of the Blue Bar – TR4 8AW
• Sun May 6th Bristol 2 – 5pm (Meet for briefing at 2pm) Portishead – In front of the swimming pool – BS20 7HD
• Mon May 7th Cardiff 2 – 5pm (Meet for briefing at 2pm) Rest Bay – At the bottom of the slipway – CF36 3UP
• Sat May 12th Cornwall 2 – 5pm (Meet for briefing at 2pm) Perranporth – In front of the main car park -TR6 0BH
• Sun May 13th North Devon 2 – 5pm (Meet for briefing at 2pm) Saunton – At the bottom of the slipway – EX33 1LQ
• Sat June 23rd Edinburgh 2 – 5pm (Meet for briefing at 2pm) Dunbar – East Beach – In front of Woodbrush road -EH42 1GT
• Sun June 24th Fife 2 – 5pm (Meet for briefing at 2pm) Elie Ruby Bay – Elie – Leven – On the main beach – KY9 1BW
• Sat July 7th Brighton 2 – 5pm (Meet for briefing at 2pm) Hove Lawns – Paddle Round The Pier Village – BN3 2FR
• Sun July 8th London 2 – 5pm (Meet for briefing at 2pm) Barnes – Upstream of the Railway Bridge – Lonsdale Road – Slipway opposite Nasser Road – SW13 9QB
• Sat Aug 4th Tynemouth 2 – 5pm (Meet for briefing at 2pm) Longsands – In front of the Grand Hotel – NE30 4JS
• Sun Aug 5th Liverpool 2 – 5pm (Meet for briefing at 2pm) Ainsdale – Shore Road – In Front of the beach car park – PR8 2PZ

For further information, please contact Dom Ferris, SAS Campaign Officer, on 01872 555 953.

For more information on the 2012 Barefoot Wine Beach Rescue Project and on-going environmental projects at Surfers Against Sewage, please visit www.sas.org.uk

SAS is today launching a new petition – www.sas.org.uk/free-broad-bench – calling on the Secretary of State for Defence, Phillip Hammond MP, to review the current restrictions which see the area and wave, known as Broad Bench, to be off limits for the majority of the year. SAS is encouraging local surfers and other recreational water users, along with the wider public, to sign the petition and share it with as many friends as possible.

The Free Broad Bench petition calls on the Ministry of Defence to review the current situation at the AFV Gunnery School, Lulworth Camp, Dorset where existing restrictions severely limit public access to one of the UK’s best recreational waves.

The Ministry of Defence has refused to meet with SAS to discuss improving public access to the area despite the latest requests to do so.

The wave, known as Broad Bench, is situated just within the firing range’s restricted outer limits. SAS believes there is a compromise that will allow full public access to Broad Bench whilst maintaining full use of the site for military exercises.

The unique coastal morphology and environment create surfing waves which are a jewel in the crown of British surfing, providing significant social, sporting, cultural and economic benefits for the local and wider communities. SAS are also fully supporting Marine Conservation Zones (MCZ) proposed for the area as these aim to restrict exploitation such as development, drilling, fishing and mining extraction rather than exclude sustainable public access. These MCZ’s will help prevent irreversible change occurring to our precious coastline.

For more information and to sign the petition please visit www.sas.org.uk/free-broad-bench

“Barefoot Wine is very proud to be working with Surfers Against Sewage for the fifth year in a row to help keep Britain’s beaches ‘barefoot friendly’”, said Barefoot Wine Marketing Manager, Yona Ellis.

The 2011 Barefoot Wine Beach Rescue Project saw over 1100 volunteers remove 2.5 tonnes of litter from the UK’s coastline, and 2012’s series of events aims to encourage more people to keep the UK’s beaches barefoot friendly. After collecting an Barefoot Wine/SAS volunteer t-shirt and any necessary kit, volunteers will hear more about SAS’s environmental campaigns and spend a hour or so collecting litter along their local beach, and end the day with a celebratory glass of Barefoot Wine.

To register your interest in attending an SAS Barefoot Wine Beach Rescue Project event, please email dom@sas.org.uk, stating the location you’d like to join us at. Alternatively, please call us on 01872 553 001

Dates and locations for the tour are as follows:

1. Sat April 14th  Bournemouth 2 – 5pm
   (Meet for briefing at 2pm) Hengistbury Head  – At the end of the path from the main car park – BH6 4EN
2. Sun April 15th Birmingham 2 – 5pm
   (Meet for briefing at 2pm) Sea life centre – Brindley Place – On Canal – B1 2JB
3. Friday May 4th Falmouth 2 – 5pm
   (Meet for briefing at 2pm) Swanpool and Gyllyngvase – Next to Swanpool Beach Café -  TR11 5BG
4. Sat May 5th Cornwall 2 – 5pm
   (Meet for briefing at 2pm) Pothtowan – In front of the Blue Bar – TR4 8AW
5. Sun May 6th Bristol 2 – 5pm
   (Meet for briefing at 2pm) Portishead – In front of the swimming pool – BS20 7HD
6. Mon May 7th Cardiff 2 – 5pm
   (Meet for briefing at 2pm) Rest Bay – At the bottom of the slipway – CF36 3UP
7. Sat May 12th  Cornwall 2 – 5pm
   (Meet for briefing at 2pm) Perranporth -  In front of the main car park -TR6 0BH
8. Sun May 13th North Devon 2 – 5pm
   (Meet for briefing at 2pm) Saunton -  At the bottom of the slipway – EX33 1LQ  
9. Sat June 23rd Edinburgh 2 – 5pm
   (Meet for briefing at 2pm) Dunbar – East Beach – In front of Woodbrush road -EH42 1GT
10. Sun June 24th Fife 2 – 5pm
    (Meet for briefing at 2pm) Elie Ruby Bay – Elie – Leven – On the main beach – KY9 1BW
11. Sat July 7th Brighton 2 – 5pm
    (Meet for briefing at 2pm) Hove Lawns – Paddle Round The Pier Village – BN3 2FR
12. Sun July 8th London 2 – 5pm
    (Meet for briefing at 2pm) Barnes – Upstream of the Railway Bridge – Lonsdale Road – Slipway opposite Nasser Road – SW13 9QB
13. Sat Aug 4th Tynemouth 2 – 5pm
    (Meet for briefing at 2pm) Longsands -  In front of the Grand Hotel – NE30 4JS
14. Sun Aug 5th Liverpool 2 – 5pm
    (Meet for briefing at 2pm) Ainsdale – Shore Road – In Front of the beach car park – PR8 2PZ

Britain has the thirteenth longest coastline in the world and our beaches provide a fantastic day out for everyone but currently there are almost 2,000 items of marine litter for every km of the UK’s beaches. One of the most found items of litter is cigarette butts with approximately 4.5 Trillion cigarette butts are littered across the world each year. Laid down end-to-end they would reach around Great Britain’s coastline over 4000 times.

SAS Campaign Officer, Dom Ferris says: “At SAS we witness the impact that marine litter is having on our beaches every day. This project will give the UK’s proud coastal communities an opportunity to make a real and noticeable difference to the health of our precious coastline. This year SAS, Barefoot Wine and, most importantly, beach lovers around the UK will help make this our most successful year so far. Come and join us at your favourite beaches!”

SAS Regional Reps and lead volunteers were joined by hundreds of eager volunteers, all doing their bit to keep UK beaches clean and raise public awareness about marine litter. SAS cleans took place throughout Cornwall, Devon, the South Coast, the East Coast, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

The SAS Big Spring Beach Clean further demonstrated the public appetite to get involved with SAS’s grassroots community activities helping protect beaches for everyone to use safely and sustainably. It also reinforces just how much the UK’s coastal communities care. We would like to say a huge THANK YOU to all the hardworking SAS Regional Reps, lead volunteers and the community volunteers who made a sunny weekend even brighter. The feedback has been really positive, with not only a huge amount of marine litter removed from our beaches but also a positive message sent out to help encourage people to take action to protect their favourite stretches of coastline.

At the time of writing, SAS can confirm that the beach cleans in total had the participation of almost 1,000 volunteers, who helped to remove over 3,000kgs of marine litter from the UK’s coastline in just two days. Each clean lasted around two hours, so we are delighted to have contributed over 2000 volunteer hours to beaches through this initiative.

Spring time sadly reveals the true severity of the marine litter issue. After a long winter of storms, before local council beach cleaning operations begin for the summer season, the accumulation of litter can often seem at its worst. Typical examples of marine litter include rubbish from beach users, sewage-related debris, waste from commercial shipping, nets and fish boxes from fishing vessels and medical waste.

SAS Director Hugo Tagholm says: “I would like to thank all the volunteers who took part in the SAS Big Spring Beach Clean. It’s an amazing result to have removed almost three tonnes of marine litter from UK beaches and everyone should be very proud. Our growing team of community volunteers is really helping combat the tide of trash and encourage ways of reducing litter from even ending up in our precious oceans.”

Here aresome links to some great reports from specific cleans from our passionate volunteers & supporters:

Shoreham, Brighton: http://www.bemmerdesigns.co.uk/sas-beach-clean-2012/

Saltburn, Yorkshire: http://vimeo.com/39114204

Great Western, Newquay: http://reneeansell.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/great-western-beach-is-lookin-fine.html

We’d like to say thank you to Screwfix for supplying the protective gloves for the SAS Big Spring Beach Clean volunteers – www.screwfix.com

The annual SAS Big Spring Beach Clean has been removing marine litter from UK beaches for many years with the help of community volunteers. SAS are today calling on the coastal communities across the UK to join them for the SAS Big Spring Beach Clean at beaches nationwide on 24th & 25th March to help make this year’s event the biggest ever.

Spring time sadly reveals the true severity of the marine litter issue. After a long winter of storms, before local council beach cleaning operations begin for the summer season, the accumulation of litter can often seem at its worst. The amount of marine litter found on UK beaches has almost doubled in the last fifteen years, with a shocking 1,969 litter items found on every kilometre of coastline*. Typical examples of marine litter include rubbish from beach users, sewage-related debris, waste from commercial shipping, nets and fish boxes from fishing vessels and medical waste.

SAS Big Spring Beach Clean events will be led by SAS Regional Reps & SAS Lead Volunteers, with confirmed locations including:

South West England

• Great Western – Newquay – 24/03/12 - 11:00-14:00
• Fistral – Newquay- NB Has been moved to 31/03/12 – 11:00 – 14:00
• Perranporth – West Cornwall – 25/03/12 - 11:00-14:00
• Falmouth – East Cornwall – 24/03/12 - 11:00-14:00 (TBC PM Today)
• Perranuthanoe –South Cornwall – 25/03/12 - 11:00-14:00
• Mawgan Porth – North Cornwall – 24/03/12 - 11:00-14:00
• Portwrinkle – South East Cornwall – 25/03/12 - 11:00-14:00
• Bude – North Cornwall – 24/03/12 - 11:00-14:00
• Saunton – North Devon – 25/03/12 - 11:00-14:00
• Mothecombe – Devon – 25/03/12 - 11:00-14:00
• Exmouth – Devon – 25/03/12 - 11:00-14:00
• Burnham-on-Sea – Somerset – 24/03/12 - 11:00-14:00
• Minehead – Somerset- 25/03/12 – 11:00-14:00

South Coast of England

• Kimmeridge – Dorset – 25/03/12 – 13:00-15:00
• Isle Of Wight – 25/03/12 - 15:00-17:00
• Brighton – 25/03/12 - 11:00-14:00
• Brighton – Rottingdean Beach – 25/03/12 - 10:00-12:00
• Brighton – Saltdean – 25/03/12 – 16:00-18:00
• Bournemouth – 25/03/12 – 11:00-14:00
• Southend – Jubilee Beach – 24/03/12 - 11:00-14:00
• Hengistbury Head, Bournemouth – 25/03/12 - 11:00-14:00

North East of England

• Mablethorpe – Sandilands – 24/03/12 11:00-14:00
• Saltburn – 24/03/12 - 11:00-14:00
• Scarborough – 25/03/12 - 11:00-14:00
• Tynemouth – Longsands – 25/03/12 - 12:00-15:00

North West England

• East Kirby – Wirral – 25/03/12 – 11:00-14:00

Scotland

• Pease Bay – East Lothian – 24/03/12 - 11:00-14:00
• Dunbar – East Lothian – 25/03/12 – 11:00-14:00
• Newhaven – Wardie Bay- 24/03/12 - 11:00-14:00
• Machrihanish – 25/03/12 - 10:00-13:00
• Isle of Skye – Talisker – 24/03/12 - 11:00-14:00

Northern Ireland

• Portrush – White Rocks – 24/03/12 - 11:00-14:00

Wales

• Newgale – Pembrokeshire – 24/03/12 - 10:00-13:00
• Rest Bay – Bridgend – 24/03/12 – 11:00-14:00
• Coney Beach – Bridgend – 25/03/12 - 11:00-14:00
• Llantwit Major – Bridgend – 24/03/12 - 11:00-14:00
• Abersoch – Hells Mouth – North Wales – 25/03/12 - 11:00-14:00

The SAS Big Spring Beach Clean helps tackle the growing problem of marine litter with the help of regional reps, supporters, SAS members and coastal community volunteers. This year SAS is encouraging dedicated volunteers to organise their own beach clean events, offering support and equipment to help empower communities to take positive action to protect local beaches, surf spots and waterways.

SAS Big Spring Beach Clean events also confront the worsening marine litter crisis through the promotion of SAS initiatives such as No Butts on the Beach, Return To Offender and Think Before You Flush. These encourage further individual and corporate action once the beach clean has finished ultimately helping reduce the amount of litter finding its way onto the beach can into the sea.

Hugo Tagholm, SAS Executive Director says: “Over the past few years SAS has seen a dramatic rise in the number of community volunteers getting involved with our beach clean programmes. Communities want to play their part in tackling the marine litter crisis affecting beautiful beaches everywhere, a visible indicator of the ecological disaster happening in our oceans. The SAS Big Spring Beach Clean empowers communities and educates the public on making an on-going positive difference to coastlines.”

The Big Spring Beach Clean will take place between 11am and 2pm on 24th & 25th March 2012, so get ready to roll up your sleeves for UK beaches. For more information on confirmed locations or to register your event please contact Steve Hagan on 01872 555 950 or email projects@sas.org.uk

NOTES

*statistics taken from the 2010 MCS Beachwatch survey

Please note that all official SAS Big Spring Beach Clean organisers will need to fill out an SAS risk assessment document. Once officially registered SAS will notify the council of your event & anticipated volunteer numbers. All organisers must follow SAS’s health and safety advice and briefing instructions. All organisers must ensure they dispose of rubbish collected properly, either by liaising with the local council or taking it to the local refuse disposal & recycling site. Surfers Against Sewage conforms to statutory requirements with regard to employer’s liability and this covers volunteers on beach clean activities.

Materials provided by SAS to volunteers organising beach cleans:

• SAS Big Spring Beach Clean Posters
• SAS Big Beach Clean – organisers’ guide (Including risk assessments, public liability insurance cover and volunteer health and saftey briefing advice)
• Digital Big Spring Beach Clean artwork SAS Stickers
• Think Before You Flush
• No Butts On The Beach
• SAS Eye Logo
• Heavy duty gloves
• Degradable bin bags
• SAS marine litter guides

SAS is encouraging supporters to voice their concerns immediately by signing its Red Alert! petition at www.sas.org.uk/red-alert/ . These concerns must be submitted by Friday, 23rd March 2012.

There is currently only limited legislation to protect our unique coastline, much of which will be weakened or abolished altogether through the Red Tape Challenge. This Government exercise seems to be putting developers ahead of the environment, which may not be a surprise given the Chancellor last autumn attacked green policies as a “burden” and a “ridiculous cost”. Given the already fragile nature of our coastal environment and notable lack of any specific legislation to protect waves important to communities, SAS is alarmed at the catastrophic damage this could lead to on our coastal environment and surfing communities.

SAS questions how removing regulations can improve environmental protection. The Government suggests reducing legislation would help to increase the number of activities exempt from a marine license but these exist to control activities on the coast, ensuring they don’t adversely affect the environment or other coastal stakeholders including recreational beach & water users.

SAS’s specific concerns include water quality, which is already severely impacted by combined sewer overflows at many surf spots, dredging activities that could affect beaches used for recreation, development progressing without proper recognition of surfing resources, coastal defences damaging beaches, access restrictions to the coastline and other potential coastal pollution arising from weakened legislation.

For more information on the Government Red Tape Challenge Water & Marine please visit http://www.redtapechallenge.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/themehome/water-and-marine/

SAS frequently cite the Bathing Water Directive, Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive, the Marine and Coastal Access Act and the Environment Act when challenging polluters and developers. Legislation is one of the most powerful tools in protecting our coastline and surf spots. Without them the coast could become an unregulated zone, over-exploited by developers and increasingly polluted.

SAS believes that relying on voluntary compliance or the ‘Big Society’ model to protect the coast would be a big mistake.

SAS needs supporters to sign its Red Alert! petition immediately at http://www.sas.org.uk/red-alert/

Please vote today, the project is called “Coastal Protection Activists UK”

http://www.outdoorconservation.eu/project-voting-category.cfm?catid=5

Please also email friends & family, Facebook contacts and anybody you can think of who’d like to help us protect waves, oceans and beaches.

Many Thanks

Surfers Against Sewage
www.sas.org.uk
waves. environment. community.
SAS is a registered charity in England and Wales No: 1145877

Almost 2000 marine litter items are found for every kilometre of beach in the UK. Plastic packaging items such as bottles, drink caps and product wrappers are amongst the most prevalent items, with over 600 per kilometre of the UK coastline*. Items such as plastic bottles may take up to 1000 years to break down in the marine environment.

SAS is challenging the plastics packaging industry to commit to 4 simple solutions to help reverse the marine litter crisis.

1. To increase visibility of anti-littering message on their products and in advertising in suitable and engaging  ways for each consumer group.

2. To take the initiative and begin using less harmful packaging to ensure products can be broken down quickly and naturally without putting wildlife at risk

3. To promote recycling and/or reuse wherever appropriate

4. To support community beach litter initiatives or anti-litter projects

SAS delivered this challenge to key figures in the industry including Packaging Federation CEO, Dick Serle. SAS campaigners also took part in an open debate with recognised leaders in the plastic packaging industry such as Stuart Lendrum , Head of Packaging & Design, Sainsbury’s, Dr. John Williams, Head of Materials for Energy & Industry, NNFCC, and Tom Heap BBC Panorama presenter on the issue of marine litter.

Sessions SAS participated in included ‘Is extended producer responsibility a responsible concept?’ and ‘Sustainable packaging: saving the planet or costing the earth?’ where SAS’s campaign message resonated strongly in calling on the industry to do more as a whole to combat the issue of marine litter.

SAS believe that by taking action at all levels – consumers, government and industry – we can stem the tide line of trash.

For more information on this campaign please contact dom@sas.org.uk or call 01872 553 001. To learn more about how SAS and our supporters already combat marine litter visit www.sas.org.uk