The Annual Clean Coasts Big Beach Clean is back for 2025 and organisers are encouraging beach enthusiasts from across the country to take part and register their beach clean-ups. Taking place from September 19th to 21st, volunteers across the country will join the action to clean litter from their local beaches, waterways and towns, all while contributing to a global effort to combat marine litter.
Once again kindly supported by Kia Ireland, the Big Beach Clean is encouraging volunteers to sign up now for their free clean-up kit and join the beach cleaning movement. In 2024, over 600 groups registered to host a clean-up, and removed a staggering 95 tonnes of litter from our marine environment making it our biggest clean-up action yet! This year we want to continue the momentum and promote citizen science action through filling out our Marine Litter Data Cards.
Upon signing up, participants will receive everything they need to conduct a successful beach clean and complete a marine litter survey. Through filling in the Clean Coasts Marine Litter Data Cards or using the Clean Swell App you can becoming a part of a global citizen science action by recording your litter picking findings. The Big Beach Clean is held as part of the International Coastal Cleanup, led globally by Ocean Conservancy.
As part of this event, Clean Coast volunteers contribute to a global citizen science initiative by carrying out marine litter surveys on Irish beaches. These surveys help record the quantity and types of litter found most frequently, raising awareness about marine pollution and highlighting the scale of the issue.
By participating in the Big Beach Clean and submitting the quantities and varieties of litter found, participants will help make Ireland’s voice heard on a global scale. The data collected by our volunteers in previous years have informed national Clean Coasts campaigns such as ‘Bin the Butt’ and ‘Break Up With Plastic’.
On a global level, this data, when shared with Ocean Conservancy, has driven significant policy changes worldwide, including banning of certain plastic items such as bags and straws or the implementation of laws to prohibit smoking on beaches.
For more information and to register, visit cleancoasts.org/our-initiatives/big-beach-clean/
