Organise Your Own Clean

Thank you for your interest in leading a Big Spring Beach Clean Summit to Sea event.

We’ve created this STEP BY STEP guide below to make it as easy and enjoyable as possible for you to organise a clean for your community. Most of your questions can be answered here so please do have a good look. If you still need help please email the Beach Clean Team on beachcleans@sas.org.uk..

So you want to hold your own clean event? Amazing! Here’s our 5 step process to organising the event. Questions? See our FAQ’s below as well as our top tips.

1. First things first, choose a beach. Sadly plastic pollution is a global issue and all beaches are affected by it. Larger, more remote beaches will be harder hit.

2. Please download and fill in the following documents

‘Pre-Event Checklist’ – This lets us get to know you and your event to provide as much help as possible.
‘Beach-Manager-Notification-Letter’ or River-Manager-Notification-Letter– This notifies the owner of the beach or river, often the local council or the National Trust, that you are intending to carry out a clean. * If your beach clean is on Cornwall Council land please see below.
Beach Clean Risk Assessment or River Clean Risk Assessment– Please read through our risk assessment and add any additional risks that may be specific to your chosen clean site.
SAS-Safety-Guidelines – Please read our safety guidelines and use them to add to your risk assessment if necessary.

3. Send the completed ‘Pre-Event Checklist’ to Jack and Laura via email at beachcleans@sas.org.uk.

4. Print off the following documents to have with you on the day of the beach clean to show volunteers who wish to read them:

Public Liability Insurance
Sign In Sheet – this allows volunteers to sign up to our emails and hear all about our campaigns and fundraisers
SAS-Child-Protection-Policy

5. Don’t forget to Say ‘Thank You!’ – Your clean volunteers are donating a valuable thing to support us, their time! Weekends are precious things and the fact that people not only want but actually look forward to spending that time with us is a truly inspiring thing.

* Thanks to an ongoing partnership with Cornwall Council and Clean Cornwall we have been given blanket permission to run cleans on their beaches. If your beach is on the list here; Council Owned Beaches you no longer need to complete the Beach Manager Notification Letter above. Just let the SAS Beach Clean Team know.

What your fellow Beach Clean Organisers say

“

Don't hesitate about leading your first beach clean! You are only a few steps away from doing something amazing, and SAS will support you the whole way through.
It's such a wonderful, positive way to care for your favourite beach and bring together like-minded people in your community!”

— Vikki Baker, has been leading SAS Beach Cleans for 2 years. Most recently at Westward Ho!

I wanted to be part of a bigger movement to help clean our beaches! It is always hugely satisfying to look back on your clean beach after a clean, but even better to know that others all around the UK (and world!) are doing the same to help the marine environment. It is also the perfect platform to promote changes in the community such as reducing plastic.

Getting involved was very simple and SAS have been brilliant in providing any equipment or promotional materials we might need so I would definitely encourage others to sign up.

— Claire, Channel Islands

”

Organising your own Beach Clean - FAQs

Do I need permission from the Council/beach owner/manager?

We use the term ‘notification’, as they don’t always get back to us and that shouldn’t stop us cleaning the beaches we love. All you have to do is follow our ‘Organise Your Own Beach Clean guide’ and we are happy that we have done enough.

Which beach do you want me to clean?

Yours! Every single beach is affected by plastic pollution and deserves our protection.

How old do I have to be to organise my own SAS Beach Clean?

There is no age limit, however if you are under 18 we do ask that you have someone over 18 to support you.

Will I be insured to organise my own beach clean?

Yes, once you have completed steps 1-6 of our ’Organise Your Own Beach Clean’ guide.

When should I promote my beach clean?

You can get started as soon as you have received the go ahead from SAS HQ. We can provide tips and assets to help you make loads of noise!

Can I set up my own Facebook Event?

Yeah, go for it! This is a great way of creating a buzz about your beach clean and keeping your volunteers updated. You can download some social media profile and cover images here

Do I have to write and send a press release?

Your local press always really like to hear of inspiring community activities. All you have to do is put together a short write up of the day in your own words, label and add some of your favourite photos (1MB or above) from the day and send it to the ‘news@ or editor@ email address. Remember to mention SAS and our aim to create plastic free communities together #PlasticFreeCommunities

Will I receive some posters?

We can email you a file to print your own off. Get them out and up around your beach as early as you can!

Do I have to provide my own bin bags and gloves?

We’re aiming for 100,000 volunteers across the UK so will be asking people to bring their own where possible. If you need us to send you some please make sure you give us at least 2 weeks notice so we can put your pack together. Please indicate how many you think you will need on your pre-event check list and we can send some out.

When will I receive my beach clean kit?

We’ll send it to you as soon as possible once everything is confirmed.

What do I do with all the rubbish that we collect?

This is one of the reasons that it’s best if you can make contact with the Council/beach owner/manager. Your ‘notification letter’ outlines the best practice. However, if in doubt, bag it up well and put it in or next to the beach bins.

Can I recycle the ocean plastic that we find?

Yes please! If you have found significant numbers of clean, relatively new PET plastic bottles then please let us know and we can connect you with your nearest SAS X Ecover Ocean Plastic Bottle Hub.

For all other plastic if it looks clean and relatively new, why not do some ‘Rebel Recycling’ and put it in your domestic recycling?!

What happens after my beach clean?

When you have completed your beach clean please send back your ‘SAS Beach Clean Feedback Form’ and a selection of your photos to beachcleans@sas.org.uk.

Will I get to hear how my beach clean helped?

You’re part of the SAS beach clean family now! We hope you’ll stay in touch with us for many years to come and play a big part in helping us to create plastic free coastlines. We’ll let you know what’s happening and how you can stay involved.