SAS was joined by adventurer, environmentalist and TV presenter Ben Fogle for the 5th annual Barefoot Wine Beach Rescue Project. An amazing 1,455 beach clean volunteers took part in the initiative at 14 beautiful beaches, rivers and canals nationwide, removing 3,827kgs of marine litter from our precious coastline.
This year’s SAS Barefoot Wine Beach Rescue Project has been the most varied yet, visiting 14 locations across the country between April and August, from stunning beaches like Perranporth in Cornwall and Elie Bay in Fife to a central Birmingham canal clean and the River Thames in London.
We are also proud to announce a new (unofficial) UK beach clean record for the number of beach clean volunteers. 257 volunteers attended the SAS Barefoot Wine Beach Rescue event in Brighton in what SAS believes to be the single biggest show of volunteer hands at a single UK beach clean (514 of them to be precise!).
The shocking haul of 1.4 tonnes of marine litter removed at Perranporth was also SAS’s biggest recorded weight of debris collected at a single beach clean.
Alongside the staggering amounts of everyday marine litter items removed, volunteers also discovered a host of weird, wonderful and, at times, troubling items, including a life size fluffy mallard at Falmouth, a toilet seat at Elie Bay and a the grip of a sawn off shotgun.
SAS would also like to thank the British Waterways team in Birmingham and Thames 21 for their expertise and guidance for the London, Thames River clean.
I think Barefoot Wine and Surfers Against Sewage are doing a fantastic job of highlighting such an important environmental issue and making it a fun family event, which I think has been key to the success of this project. For me it was a fantastic opportunity to actually help make a difference and infuse and encourage others to do the same. We’d never accept pollution and rubbish on our streets. We should be equally proud of the river or beach we live next to.
Ben Fogle, SAS Barefoot Beach Rescue Project Ambassador
Surfers Against Sewage is delighted to have mobilised a record number of beach clean volunteers through the Barefoot Wine Beach Rescue Project 2012. Community beach cleans are a great way of bringing together our supporters and wider public to tackle the growing problem of marine litter. This year, our supporters swept almost 4 tonnes of marine litter from the coast, making it a safer and nicer place for everyone to enjoy. We’d like to thank Barefoot Wine and everyone who took part in the tour, and look forward to seeing you all again next year!
Dom Ferris, Marine Litter Officer
We knew that 2012 would be a big year for the beach cleans especially with Ben Fogle heading the campaign, but it’s really exceeded expectations so we’d like to thank everyone who came to see Barefoot Wine and SAS and make all the events so special”, said Barefoot Wine Marketing Manager, Yona Ellis. “Our Barefooters have always worked with local communities and that spirit was so evident at every single one of our events this summer because come rain or shine, we’ve had people from all over the UK joining us to make more of the UK’s beaches ‘barefoot friendly’.
Yona Ellis, Barefoot Wines
