The first ever silent disco litter pick took place in Brighton yesterday, with a hundred people clearing more than a quarter of a tonne of rubbish from the beach.
The event was organised by the Pier 2 Pier Beach Clean and marked the start of the #StreetsAhead campaign by Cityclean and Hubbub UK.
It aims to encourage residents, businesses and tourists to act together reduce the amount of litter in Brighton and Hove.
The silent beach clean organisers Amy Gibson and Dean Curtis said: “The most common items found on the clean were plastic bottles, plastic straws, bottle lids, carrier bags and food packaging.
“All hard plastics found were collected by Terracycle to produce the world’s first recyclable shampoo bottles containing 25 per cent recycled marine plastics.
“It was recently predicted that by 2050 there could be more plastic in the ocean than fish and already, 35 per cent of fish off the coast of Brighton have plastic in their gut.
“The Pier 2 Pier Beach Clean wants to make Brighton and Hove part of the solution – not the problem.
“We’re so pleased that so many people got involved and were able to see just how much difference they can make in a short space of time – just by removing beach litter which could have easily made its way into the sea and harmed marine life.”
Among those taking part on Friday were local organisations such as the i360, Mooncup Ltd, Brighton Gin and Brighton University.
The Pier 2 Pier Beach Clean is a volunteer-run community group. It holds monthly beach clean events on Brighton Beach between the Palace Pier and the West Pier.
The group has now run four major clean ups and have collected more than 200kg of litter.
Find out more at https://www.facebook.com/groups/pier2pierbeachclean.
The Streets Ahead Campaign started yesterday (Friday 25 August) and the beach phase of the campaign will run this month and next.
The campaign is being run by Cityclean – part of Brighton and Hove City Council – and the environmental charity Hubbub UK.
I’ve just returned from spending a few days in Brighton and didn’t think the beaches looked dirty.
I would say it’s the street and building’s that need a major clean.
This was very good but I wonder why you didn’t cover our two volunteer days of the Amazingly Massive Madeira Terraces Clean-Up – we had two excellent days, cleaning the Terraces in intense heat. I would have thought this should have been supported by the Press, as we are trying to help make the Terraces look better & therefore, get more money inverted in them! It was very disappointing that we didn’t warrent a mention
Sorry, Jax. Most days we simply run out of time to write up all of the amazing things – and some not so amazing – that happen here in Brighton and Hove. It’s not the case that the two days that went into making our beach and seafront look better didn’t warrant a mention.
I’m a big fan of the beach clean ups – although I wish they weren’t necessary – and a big fan of letting people know when they’re happening and how they went. A big thank you to you and all those who helped – and sorry for not having published a report at the time.