On Sunday, March 10, 2024, AWT and volunteers organised a litter pick at Clonque Bay and Platte Saline beach. It was the 6th Big Channel Islands Beach Clean of 2024 in collaboration with Guernsey, Jersey and Sark. The weather was pleasant with sunshine and mild winds. We, 17 people, including AWT staff and volunteers, armed with gloves, litter pickers and bags were divided into two groups. One group worked in Clonque Bay, and the other on Platte Saline.
The 6th Big Channel Islands Beach Clean is a great success
Photo credit: Abigail de Castella
AWT and volunteers conducted the 6th Big Channel Islands Beach Clean at Clonque Bay, Platte Saline beach, Longis and Burhou on 10th and 11th March. The total trash collected weighed 66kg, including 58 kg from Clonque bay and Platte Saline beach, 4.5 kg from Longis and 3.5 kg from Burhou.
Photo credit: Abigail de Castella
Guess what we found on the beach? Washed-up litter and pieces of marine life. We found a range of items, from hundreds of fragments of polystyrene and plastic, to fishing nets, discarded car tyres and boat fenders. The litter was recorded and categorised during the beach clean to provide data to the Marine Conservation Society. The total litter collected was weighed at the end of the beach clean. In just about 2 hours, the beach cleanup collected a whopping total of 58kg from Clonque Bay and Platte Saline beach.
One of our volunteers had spent the morning with their family collecting litter from Longis, that weighed in at a total of 4.5kg, so a big thank you for the extra effort you made!
The following day, the team headed out to Burhou to complete a variety of tasks, and were surprised by the amount of litter found on an uninhabited island. Between 2 bags of litter, we collected up another 3.5kg including 22 bottles, a contact lens packet, a camera lens cap and plenty of rope and twine.
A huge thank you to Littlefeet Environmental , the Clean Earth Trust , BEEP, Le Societe Sercquiase of Sark & Sark School for collaborating on the 6th annual Channel Island Beach Clean.
The current total across all the islands, is somewhere over an incredible, 177kg!
Well done, Channel Islands.
Photo credit: Thanh Doan
It's sad but unsurprising how our everyday stuff ends up polluting the ocean. These items can be a great menace to marine life and humans. Marine animals can accidentally ingest plastic, which can cause them difficulty digesting, hunger, emaciation, and even death. In other cases, they use marine litter to make nests, leading to entanglements, like the cases of Northern gannets, the beautiful birds nesting on our Les Etacs and Ortac.
Photo credit: AWT Staff
Trash in the sea is a pressing concern. While it's evident that Alderney’s residents are aware of environmental protection and have made substantial efforts in waste management, there remains an opportunity for us to further contribute. We can help marine life by reducing the use of single-use plastics and mindfully using our resources, thereby reducing waste of all forms.
Photo credit: Thanh Doan
On a mission to find trash on the beach, we came across interesting pieces of nature such as fragments of kelp's holdfast, mermaid’s purses, empty whelk egg cases, and early sea kale.