Source to Sea Litter Quest

Before heading out to conduct your survey, check out our handy risk assessments to help you stay safe. If you are leading a group, we've put together a handy guide to help you run a litter pick.

In order to be covered by our insurance event organisers must make time for appropriate planning, risk assessment and minimisation prior to their event.

There are 15 items to look out for when you head out on your litter quest. Taking part is simple:

1. Download and print our Source to Sea Litter Quest form. We have also created a simplified recording form, with clear line drawings of each item, which are easy to print for larger groups.

1. Head to your local park, street or river and record which litter items you spot there - keep a tally of how many you find. If you are taking part with younger children, you can tick the form instead.
2. If it is safe to, and the litter is on public land, you can either take the rubbish home with you or arrange uplift of litter with the local council - remember to recycle it wherever possible
3. Submit your litter data using our handy form. If you prefer, you can email us a photo or scan of your form to beachwatch@mcsuk.org
4. When you have finished your event, if would be great to have any feedback on any hazards to help us improve the safety of litter clean ups. Please complete the section on the form.

All of the data you collect on the beach, on your street or in a local park helps us campaign for change to protect our ocean.

Plastic bag charges

We’ve used data collected in previous years to make the case for carrier bag charges across the UK. Wales introduced charges in 2011 followed by Scotland in 2014 and England in 2015.

We know policies like carrier bag charges work. Since their introduction across the UK, we’ve seen a 61% drop (2011-2021) in the number of plastic bags we’re finding on beaches. The more data we collect, the more policies we can push for to make beach and ocean pollution a thing of the past.

We’re campaigning for deposit return schemes across the UK. These schemes mean you pay a small deposit on these items when you buy them, then when you return it to be recycled, you get your money back.

Scotland is set to introduce these schemes in August 2023. England, Wales and Northern Ireland are yet to bring in laws that will support a deposit return scheme. With your help we can provide evidence of the problem to encourage politicians to take urgent action.

Vapes

With 14 million single-use vapes sold each month in the UK, many are ending up littered on our streets where they pollute the environment, making their way into rivers and eventually, the ocean.

We know that disposable vapes are polluting our streets, parks, rivers and beaches. By taking part, you’re helping to gather data which acts as evidence to show just how much of a problem disposable vapes are for our environment. Find out more about our Ban disposable vapes campaign here.

Wet wipes

Sometimes it’s hard to understand a single wet wipe can make such a big impact hundreds of miles away. But each year we find evidence of the impact of a single flush on our beaches and in our coastal waters. In 2020, we found 18 wet wipes on every 100m of beach during our Great British Beach Clean and these are consistently found in the top 10 most common litter items on Scottish beaches.

Many wet wipes contain plastic fibres which break down into microplastics and become harmful to marine animals. We’re calling for UK governments to ban single use plastic wipes.

Balloons

Letting balloons go and setting off sky lanterns may seem like a bit of harmless fun, but what happens when they float out of your sight and disappear from your thoughts? They land somewhere – either intact or in bits with their trailing strings and plastic ties.

Over the past 5 years, we've found on average 3 balloons per 100m during our Great British Beach Clean!

Councils all around the UK got involved in our ‘Don’t let go’ campaign and voted to ban outdoor balloon and sky lanterns releases.