All told, more than 45,000 volunteers removed over 156,000 pounds of trash from UK beaches, mountain trails, rivers, and streets. Photo: Surfers Against Sewage
The numbers are in. And Surfers Against Sewage – the UK-based environmental organization – is celebrating a week of beach cleanups it organized across the region earlier this month that attracted 45,771 volunteers. It’s the biggest beach cleanup event in the UK’s history.
Event organizers claim the enthusiasm among volunteers could be attributed, at least in part, to the “Attenborough effect” – a reference to the final episode of the BBC Earth series Blue Planet II, narrated by Sir David Attenborough, that illustrates the scale of the global ocean plastic epidemic. According to Global Citizen, new research suggests that some 88 percent of those who watched the series have changed their lifestyle vis-à-vis plastic as a result.
“This is the ‘Attenborough effect’ in action,” said Surfers Against Sewage Community Manager Jack Middleton in a statement. “We are witnessing an incredible community response to plastic pollution on our beaches, rivers, and green spaces across the UK. For so many people to have given up their time and joined a [cleanup] really shows the current attitude towards environmental protection.”
All told, the over 45,000 volunteers removed 70,799.31 kilograms (over 156,000 lbs.) of plastic during 752 different cleanups from April 6 – 14. The equivalent of nearly 18,000 trash bags full.
Now, what to do with all that trash? Maybe Adidas will upcycle it into a few of the 11 million pairs of shoes it plans to make of ocean plastic this year?
