International Coastal Cleanup Day (ICCD)
by Phil Heaton 2 Sep 18:32 UTC
18 September 2021
International Coastal Cleanup Day © Ocean Cruising Club
Around the world, people are being mobilised for International Coastal Cleanup Day - one of the world's largest annual volunteer preservation and protection events for our oceans and beaches.
The five most commonly collected items on ICCD last year were cigarette butts, plastic beverage bottles, food wrappers, plastic bottle caps and plastic straws.
In Britain, 425 litter items were found per 100m of beach surveyed at last year's Beach Clean, with 30% of beach cleans finding face masks and PPE. The good news is that there has been a 55% drop in plastic bags found on UK beaches since the charge of 5p per bag was introduced.
You can find out about events taking place near you at:
Many of these contribute to citizen science surveys, reporting on what is found. In addition, there are many localised initiatives that cruisers can join, but you don't need an event to get stuck in at your local beach and join this global drive to clean up the oceans and beaches.
This article has been provided by the courtesy of Ocean Cruising Club.