Blackpool Community Beach Cleans

In Blackpool Community beach cleans are held to help the local marine environment, and you can join in!

Community beach cleans in Blackpool started in mid 2012. You’re welcome to come along and help at the regular events, held from Central Prom near the RNLI station. They’re seasonal, held mostly in the holiday season from Spring to Autumn.

They’re headed up by Blackpool SEA LIFE. As a national organisation they’re involved with preserving the environment and looking after our seas and wild creatures who depend on the marine environment.

Where Does the Litter Come From?

Blackpool is in a funny spot on the coastline, between two river estuaries. The River Ribble comes inland from Preston past Lytham and St Annes in the South. In the North, the River Wyre opens to the sea at Fleetwood. These two rivers, and the location on the coast between the Isle of Man and Ireland, means that the sea deposits debris which it collects from elsewhere.

Visitors to the seafront all along the Fylde Coast also deposit rubbish (please don’t!). It’s also common to see the cheap plastic buckets and spades just left there. Discarded on the sands after a day at the beach they create a lot of litter!

Along with shipping litter all this gets swirled about in the water and washes up to shore. Community beach cleans can only remove some of what’s out to sea, but every little bit helps and your contribution is very worthwhile.

Why Blackpool Community Beach Cleans Matter

It’s important to remove the plastic from the beach – not only does it look unsightly but it is also a serious threat to wildlife and affects the quality of the sea water.

Marine mammals like seals, plus fish and birds eat the plastic believing it to be jellyfish or other digestible food, and it can eventually fill their stomachs so that they then starve to death – like the bird in this photo –

Fishing line and rope tangles around animals and birds and stops them from swimming and flying and they drown, and the list goes on….

Blackpool Community Beach Cleans are Great Fun!

As well as being good for the environment, community beach cleans are actually quite good fun, believe it or not!

It gets you out into the fresh air and onto the beach. You can make new friends and find out lots from other volunteers. It also connects you to the environment, and you’ll see why you have to change your habits at home in order to keep our seas clean.

Marine litter is a problem. But each and every one of us who lives nearby or visits the coast can play a part in solving it. If you see litter while you’re out, pick it up and put it in a bin!