Calling all local heroes – the Mindful Chef Coast Clean is back on Saturday September 19th, and we want your help!
WHAT …
On September 19th 2020 we’re hosting our Mindful Chef Coastal Clean for the second year running! Last year our incredible community came together to help clean 121 beaches across the UK, removing more than 12,500L of plastic rubbish. With over 1000 volunteers taking part in 2019 we’re making it even easier for you to get involved in 2020. If you don’t live near a beach or can’t travel to one, we’re asking our community to head to your local park or river instead to help clear the UK from unwanted rubbish.
To make this year even bigger and better we’ve partnered with the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) as part of The Great British Beach Clean – the largest beach clean in the UK! We’re really proud to be working with them, as not only will this help more people collect even more plastic, the MCS will also be taking surveys from every location involved, so you can directly support the future of marine life.
We’d love to see how many people can join us this year. If you have any open spaces near you that you’d like to clean, please email [email protected] so we can send you everything you need to take part on the day, plus some goodies to say thank you for getting involved.
WHY …
Mindful Chef became a certified B Corp 2018, meaning we put people and the planet first in everything we do, whether it’s our charity initiative One Feeds Two, our 2020 recyclable packaging mission or the national reverse advent calendar we run each year at Christmas. We believe the Mindful Chef community can create positive, lasting change when working together.
But why coast cleans? It’s a cause close to both of our hearts as we grew up
in Devon, spending much of our childhood on beaches and in the sea. Did you know around 12 million tonnes of plastic enters our ocean every year? Which is the equivalent of a rubbish truck every minute! Research has also found that between 60% and 90% of marine debris is made of plastic. These statistics are shocking and are only getting worse.
Plastic is not only detrimental to marine life; it also ends up on our beaches, parks and in rivers. There’s been a sharp rise in single use plastics due to Coronavirus, as well as the impacts that the easing of lockdown has brought, with large amounts of litter being left on beauty spots across the UK. This is why this years Coast Clean is particularly important.
THIS YEAR …
This year we’ve partnered with the Marine Conservation Society who’ve been running The Great British Beach Clean for 26 years! Last year they had over 10,000 volunteers cleaning 437 beaches, so we’re hoping that together we can increase these numbers.
Due to Coronavirus, the cleans will be organised slightly differently to last year, to ensure all government guidelines are followed. We’ll be keeping our eye on any changes to the guidelines running up to the clean to give you confidence and ensure it’s as safe as possible.
We’re encouraging smaller family groups to get involved, so that social distancing can be maintained. And with more staycations this year, what’s better than using one hour of your holiday to clean up your local area with your family! We’ve also decided to include open spaces, such as parks and rivers in the clean-up, to minimise travel and give even more people a chance to get involved. Just get in touch and let us know where you’d like to clean.
Want to get involved?
If you have any open spaces near you that you’d like to clean, please email [email protected] and let us know your chosen location.
We’re very excited for this year’s Mindful Chef Coastal Clean Up and can’t wait to see how many people we can get involved to help turn the plastic tide.