BEC team members tackle the plastic scourge on the Whitehaven Coast

Leslie, Andrea, Steven and Rachael use volunteer hours to support the National Trust’s last beach clean of 2018

 

14th Jan 2018. Keeping Whitehaven’s coast line in tip top shape is no easy job. The National Trust has to organise regular clean ups to protect this beautiful stretch of coast line.

At the end of 2018, four BEC team members Leslie Walkingshaw, Andrea Bird, Rachael Doran and Steven Parry got wrapped up warm and headed out with the National Trust team and volunteers to pick up as much rubbish as they could carry.

A staggering 63% of what they collected during the clean-up was plastic waste. 2018 represented a significant mind-shift in our attitudes to plastic and for the BEC team, removing this waste in the last clean of the year was particularly poignant.

Andrea, who has also used BEC volunteering hours for beach cleans at Allonby, commented: “I personally wanted to be involved in the beach cleans to help the environment, I love west Cumbria and all its wildlife. After the SKY Ocean Resuce campaign highlighted the plight of the world’s marine life due to plastic, I really wanted to get involved and do something to help. I was surprised at the amount of rubbish that was collected in a couple of hours. We had a great day together as a team, and at the end I felt like I had contributed in some small way.”

We are so proud of what our team achieve for their community. To learn more about how BEC team members spend their time off for volunteering, head to: https://discoverbec.com/giving-bec/

You can learn more about the Whitehaven beach clean here: https://colourfulcoast.org.uk/2018/12/17/2018s-last-beach-clean/?fbclid=IwAR1Hc2ho59Ta6kWUCpFCO9Axhr-DpRiJuWxjDTAY07FfdVtP6Q7zWN-dodw

Waste collected in the last clean up: