GRAB It With The Deans Volunteers

The beach looked clean, though a closer investigation revealed amongst other things, small pieces of plastic, and strings and wires hidden in the tide line – 30kg was the amount of ocean litter collected in one and a half hours by the ‘grabbers’ on the beach in one day! 

Every first Sunday of the month volunteers get together on one of our 3 local beaches. During a 90-minute window, they invite members of the public to look for anything that doesn’t belong to the natural marine environment and collect these ‘foreign’ items in a bucket, which are then checked by the GRAB team, weighed, and disposed of appropriately.

At G.R.A.B = Gather Rubbish And Bin it, volunteers educate people on how much litter there is in our oceans, how it affects marine life and encourage both local and wider communities to be mindful of our use of plastic as well as the famous RRR (reuse, reduce, recycle).

The first time I attended this monthly event I thought I would be looking for larger more obvious items of litter but to my surprise, my bucket was full of quite tiny things. 

Top 10 Marine Litter Items

Did you know that the Top 10 marine litter items found by the 14,527 volunteers of the Marine Conservation Society are:

1. Plastic/polystyrene pieces (0-50cm)	6. Caps & lids
2. Glass	7. Cotton bud sticks
3. Cigarette stubs	8. Fishing net (small)
4. Packets (crisp, sweet, lolly, sandwich)	9. Fishing line
5. String/cord (thickness 0-1cm)	10. Plastic/polystyrene (other)

As I was enjoying my exploration of the beach lifting dry seaweed, I realised I had with me a plastic water bottle for refreshment having forgotten to take one of my many reusable containers at home The joy of being human!!

My Dare to You This Summer

Grab a friend, and a hat, and come and join a team on the beach. Buckets, gloves, and litter pickers are all provided. 

Some of the benefits you will get could include:

• Enjoying time outdoors
• A mindful experience, focusing on finding some ‘treasures’
• Meeting new people or enjoying a moment to yourself
• Surprising discoveries
• Education, you may learn a new thing or two
• Feeling part of something bigger while having fun

And the cherry on the cake: volunteering has been shown to not only contribute to a good cause it also improves volunteers’ wellbeing! (Take a look at last month’s article on the topic Cheers for Volunteers)

GRAB events take place the 1^st Sunday of the month 11 am – 12.30 pm rotating between 3 beaches (you will easily spot the Deans Volunteers’ station and flag.)

July 7^th SALTDEAN 

August 4^th OVINGDEAN

September 1^st ROTTINGDEAN 

October 6^th SALTDEAN 

etc … all year around

For more information check:

Facebook: The Deans Volunteers

Email: thedeansvolunteers@gmail.com

Even if it won’t turn the tide on ocean pollution, cleaning the beach is a fab first step, as well as adjusting our lifestyle choices. 

I hope to see you soon on the beach and that you dare to be the change you want to see in your family, community and life!

Words: Mathilde Barbier

mathilde[@]daretobethechange.today – 07947 319 362 – Dare To Be The Change Today

Special Offer for Summer ’24

Gentleness can hide in our biggest challenges. To tap into its power, here are two suggestions: 

”Choose Your Own Price” 1-1 Gentle Coaching Session of 1h – on offer for the two summer months, July and August. Contact me for a free 15-minute connection call.

“7 Days to Explore 7 Facets of Gentleness” and how it shows up in our lives. Sign up for this bitesize online course: Living Gently No Matter What. Each day you will receive 5-minute guided audio and a worksheet to guide you (in editable pdf format) that you can complete at the rhythm that suits you. 

Dare to be the change you want to see!