The first event of the year for the Alderney Wildlife Trust will be taking part in the 4th big Channel Islands beach clean. There are 2 cleans in Alderney, the first on Saturday 11th at 2pm at Platte Saline (meeting at the Tourgis end) and the second on Sunday 12th also at 2pm, this time at Longis.
Tens of thousands of people every year help to pick up litter from the world’s coastlines, helping alleviate the problem of plastic and other waste in the marine environment. The big beach clean brings together all our islands at the start of the year to do something, even if it is fairly small, to protect our seas and the creatures that inhabit them.
Beach cleans are also important to understand where the waste that ends up in our oceans is coming from, for example are there leakage points in nearby countries where waste is being washed downstream and to the sea, is the majority coming from ships or is it from the local area.
In 2019 the Marine Conservation Society beachwatch showed that beaches in the Channel Islands continue to be the UK – with 104 items of litter per 100m compared to the average of 558 for the UK as a whole. So join the AWT this weekend for a beach clean and help us protect our seas.