iHASCO’s Ocean Clean-Up

Last weekend, the iHASCO Team set sail to Littlehampton Beach for our first ever Ocean Clean-Up, which was run by our chosen charity of the year, the Marine Conservation Society.

As amazing as it was seeing the team voluntarily give up their Saturday to help with the clean up, it was even more impressive that they were all able to get to the office for 7:30AM without sleeping through their alarms!

Upon arriving at the beach, we were greeted by a representative from MCS who gave us a brief on what we were doing for the day. She explained that we had to use gloves and litter pickers to remove any man-made objects from the beach. This included bottle caps, straws, wet wipes, cigarette butts, netting, and any painted wood.

The day was broken into two sessions: the first was the beach survey, where we patrolled a 100 meter stretch of the beach and had to note down every piece of litter we picked up.

The second session was a free-for-all. We had no restrictions and were all competing to pick up the most litter!

Together, we managed to pick up 7kg of litter! It was mainly tiny pieces of litter, which we were told has a greater impact on marine life; the smaller pieces of litter are usually overlooked but often mistakenly eaten by marine life, causing untold damage and working its way up the food chain to us.

To finish the day off, we had a Marine Conservation Quiz that tested our knowledge of marine life and the impact of pollution. Congratulations to the winning team which consisted of Ellie Johnson, Lottie Galvin, and Millie Gater.

In summary, we had a busy and fulfilling day where we were kept thoroughly entertained whilst also having a positive impact on the environment. And as amazing as it is to raise money for charity, it was refreshing to be directly involved in the cause!

Also, while you’re here, check out these fantastic blogs and guides from MCS:

Great British Beach Clean weekend

Living without single use plastic

How to make your business plastic free