On Saturday 7th August some of the Westgate team volunteered and braved the weather for our first Westgate and Marine Conservation Society beach clean.
Westgate have been working with the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) as a part of our Hoardfast uPVC sustainability initiative, as these recycled products generate funds which we then donate to vital causes like MCS.
Joined by beach watch officer Lizzie Prior from MCS, a team of Westgate employees and their families, cleaned a 100m stretch of Wallasey beach in the Wirral. At each clean, MCS carry out a litter survey recording all of the items found. Every lolly stick, lost toy or piece of plastic is recorded. This data is hugely important as it helps track the common items found on our beaches back to source, and then enables the MCS to campaign for change.
By the end of the 1 hour clean, the team had collected 18kg of waste! For many of us this came as a shock, given that until you really started looking the beach actually looked quite clean.
In total there were 646 litter items picked up and recorded, 72% coming from plastic/polystyrene.Â
Although the day started very wet, ‘up there with one of the wettest’ our MCS contact confessed, we soon dried out with the sky clearing to give us a lovely sunny and warm day. This didn’t seem to dampen spirts with Lizzie Prior commenting “It was lovely to meet you all. You were all such a friendly, enthusiastic team.” ​​​​​​​
The Marine Conservation Society’s Great British Beach Clean ran from the 17th -26th September which ties into the International Coastal Cleanup event. If you would like to get involved in a public event, run by the MCS, you can visit the website here: https://www.mcsuk.org/ …with more and more events being added by MCS volunteers every day.
A huge thanks to all of those who participated and we look forward to future events!