Beachwatch is the Marine Conservation Society’s national beach cleaning and litter survey programme where people all around the UK can care for their local area. As well as cleaning up the coastline, Beachwatch volunteers note down all the items they find in a 100 m stretch of beach. Every lolly stick, lost toy or piece of plastic. This data is hugely important as it helps track litter back to source, and enables campaigns for change.
In 2021/22 the marine element of the Nature Restoration Fund was administered by the SMEEF team. This enabled grants to reach more marine focused projects including BeachWatch.
Photo by ©Marine Conservation Society