On Saturday 21 September 2019 Plastic Patrol, a global movement to eradicate single use plastic, is coordinating a series of clean ups across the UK as well as Europe, Brazil, Thailand, Mexico and the USA to mark World Clean Up Day.
UK Locations: London, Falmouth, Plymouth, Torquay, Southampton, Brighton & Hove, Bedford, Kingsbridge, Nottingham, Oxford, Leeds, Reading, Birmingham, Glasgow, Stirling, Dunfermline and Edinburgh.
The goal is simple, but crucial: to run the first mass activity based clean up of its kind and collectively remove and record a whopping 250,000 pieces of rubbish from in nature in just 24 hours.
Each clean up is activity based and in return for providing an opportunity to take part in FREE activities - from paddle boarding and yoga, to plogging and parkour - volunteers are asked to make a payment in the form of a ‘nature tax’. That means collecting any rubbish they find and recording it in the Plastic Patrol app.
Plastic Patrol’s approach of combining activities with environmental action creates unique and meaningful opportunities for people to reconnect with nature and see first hand the severity of the plastic crisis.
Uniting individuals worldwide to litter pick and log findings in the app enables Plastic Patrol to gather real-time, scientifically robust data to drive long-lasting change and reinforces the positive impact of a single person in tackling the crisis.
At the helm of Plastic Patrol and the brainchild of this event is founder, Lizzie Carr, who comments: “Litter picking alone is not the solution. It’s an interim measure and to make it more impactful it must be combined with citizen science. By extracting important data from pollution we find in nature it enables us to build a powerful evidence base that illustrates key problems - from leakages in the circular economy to holes in the recycling infrastructure - and develop ways to address them. By running a global series of clean ups to mark World Clean Up Day we are continuing to grow our existing repository of data and gathering more insight to help us find solutions.”
All data collected on Plastic Patrol’s app will be shared with Plastic Patrol’s partner scientists at the University of Nottingham to analyse, alongside the existing 210,000 examples of pollution uploaded from 66 countries globally to date.
Individuals who are unable to attend organised clean up sessions are invited to download the Plastic Patrol app (available on android and iOS) and record any litter collected independently on the day – it all counts towards the final amount and every piece is another step towards the goal.
To find out more information or book a space on a clean up visit the Plastic Patrol website.
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Notes to Editors:
For comment and interview requests, filming opportunities or images please contact: Helen Morton - helen@twopeaspr.co.uk - 07480 604 282
#PlasticPatrol (www.plasticpatrol.co.uk) - is a not for profit founded in 2016 by Lizzie Carr. Regular #PlasticPatrol free paddle boarding clean up events now operate through the UK on a regular basis, with the app used globally, geo-tagging plastic pollution and identifying pressure points around the world. Plastic Patrol now has 8000 volunteers, ridding the UK waterways of 220 tonne bags of plastic in over 100 clean ups in the UK alone.
About Lizzie - Lizzie’s journey began following a cancer diagnosis which prompted her to take up paddle boarding as a means of recovery. She experienced first-hand the serious impact of plastic pollution affecting the UK waterways and set herself three world first challenges to draw attention to the global plastic crisis. A passionate environmental activist and adventurer.
In 2016, she became the first person to paddle board the length of England’s waterways, gaining notoriety for the impressive 400-mile expedition, which she undertook solo and unsupported – logging more than 2000 pieces of plastic on an interactive map, which she later named Plastic Patrol. In 2017, Lizzie went on to become the first female in history to paddle board across the English Channel taking water samples along the way and last year’s mission to paddle board the entire length of the Hudson River in New York, Lizzie completed in just eight days. Each challenge undertaken with the same purpose – raising awareness of the global plastic crisis via the medium of adventure.
● Websites: www.lizzieoutside.co.uk - www.plasticpatrol.co.uk
● Facebook: @LizzieOutside - @PlasticPatrolOfficial
● Instagram: @lizzie_outside - @Plastic_Patrol
● Twitter: @LizzieOutside - @Plastic_Patrol
● Download the Plastic Patrol App for FREE in the App and Play store
REN Clean Skincare is the headline sponsor for Plastic Patrol’s Global Clean Up on 21 September 2019
About REN Clean Skincare - Founded in London in 2000, REN Clean Skincare has constantly challenged skincare convention. As a brand we’ve only offered high-performance skincare with visible results - while avoiding any ingredients that don’t benefit skin. Since then the vision has evolved to include pioneering clean packaging, researching and creating solutions to reduce our waste impact, pledging to be Zero Waste with packaging by 2021*. REN Clean Skincare is Clean to Skin, Clean to Planet and committed to having a positive impact on our shared world. Lizzie Carr is REN’s first Clean to Planet Hero.
*Recycled, Recyclable and Reusable Packaging Solutions
• Website: www.renskincare.com
• @renkincare #cleantoskin #cleantoplanet
For REN enquiries please contact Laura Hinton - laura@littlelightpr.com
