Join a Beach Clean

Get involved with a Marine Litter beach clean

We’re inviting volunteer groups across Northern Ireland to take part in a coastal litter pick as part of the Marine Litter Report, led by Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful. It’s a great way to get outside and make a difference in your local area, while contributing to important scientific research.

Whether you’re a community or volunteer group, family, school, corporate team, or a group of friends, these beach cleans are a fun and important way to get involved in tackling litter at our blue spaces.

What’s Involved on the Day?

You can arrange your litter pick at a time and date that works for your group within the two-week window at each location (taking into account the weather and tides).

Please note, KNIB does not provide staff to attend these events.

Group size: Ideal groups are 4-15 people. Unfortunately, it is not suitable to do these litter picks with less than four people due to the importance of removing all litter from the transect.
Time commitment: Around two hours, although it may take a little bit longer depending on how much litter is at the site.
Timing: We recommend that beach cleans take place around low tide, to ensure both the beach and litter can be accessed.

Once your beach clean is complete, you can arrange for the local council to collect the bags of litter you have collected.

You’ll be given:

A clear image of the transect (the area to clean)
A link to a tide-checking app
Guidance on when to carry out your litter pick
We will provide you with litter pickers and other equipment, which can be collected and returned to our office in Belfast.
Contact information for the council who will collect the rubbish after your litter pick.

Litterpick Locations and Dates

Surveys are carried out at 12 sites every quarter, we aim to complete beach cleans within two weeks of the survey taking place. Beach cleans have already taken place at Tyrella, Culmore Point, Ballywalter, Portavogie, White Park Bay and Hazelbank. We would love some volunteer groups to get involved at the remaining beaches below. Each must be completed within the date range shown:

Kilkeel - 13th - 27th January

Ballyhornan (Downpatrick) - 14th - 28th January

Ardglass - 14th - 28th January

Runkerry -16th – 30th January

Rostrevor - 13th January - 27th January

Rathlin Island - 21st January - 7th February

Join the fun!

If you’d like to take part, email leq@keepnorthernirelandbeautiful.org with:

The beach you’d like to clean
The date you plan to carry out your litter pick
An idea of your group size
A note if you wish to borrow equipment

We’ll then provide you with everything you need to get started.

Health and Safety

Your safety is important to us. We encourage everyone to be mindful of hygiene, weather conditions, tides, and the coastal environment while out on the beach.

Please take some time to watch our litter picking health and safety videos here.

Why Take Part?

Sadly, marine litter is not just a local problem. Plastic bottles and other buoyant litter items are often pushed by wind and tides far from where they enter the sea and, prior to that, long distances away from where they were dropped by inconsiderate behaviour.

Marine litter has a detrimental impact on wildlife and humans both when in the sea and when it washes up on our shores.

Your efforts will contribute to the Marine Litter Report, helping us to gather the most accurate data possible about the problem posed by litter at coastal sites across Northern Ireland.

Completing a beach clean at one of these sites will directly impact the local environment today and will support our mission to champion behaviour and policy change that will tackle this issue for the future.

What Is the Marine Litter Survey?

Since 2012 Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful has collected information about litter on beaches around Northern Ireland. Every three months surveys are completed at each of our 12 designated beaches. on areas of specific beaches, called transects.

This data is calculated for the whole year and presented in our Marine Litter Report, which subsequently goes on to inform the Northern Ireland Marine Litter Strategy which aims to tackle the problem at a policy level.

Once the data recording has been completed by Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful’s trained staff, the litter is removed by a group of volunteers. litterpick. The same beaches are monitored every quarter quarter.

Conducting beach cleans following each survey means we don’t count the same litter more than once and allows us to accurately track changes over time.

Enjoy a great day out that makes a big difference

These litterpicks are a brilliant opportunity to get outside, enjoy your local blue space and work together to protect it. If you aren’t able to volunteer for any of the dates or locations above, keep an eye on our social channels where we will be announcing the next ‘wave’ of litter picks in three months’ time.