THE BIG OUTDOOR BLOGGERS CLEANUP ROUNDUP

As Outdoor Bloggers, we care about the environment and enjoy sharing our passion for the Great Outdoors with as many people as possible. Sadly, one common aspect of the outdoors that’s difficult to miss is the abundance of litter. Not only is it unsightly, it is also a danger to wildlife and can, in the case of plastics, take thousands of years to break down. If no one clears the rubbish, it will just stay where it is forever more.

At the end of January, we held The BIG Outdoor Bloggers Cleanup; a week-long event where Outdoor Bloggers members from around the UK and in fact all over the world, spent time collecting rubbish that is littered about their local areas.

Research published in the journal Anthropocene suggests that Humans have made enough plastic since the second world war to coat the Earth entirely in cling film, and that no part of the planet is free of the scourge of plastic waste. Everywhere is polluted with the remains of water containers, supermarket bags, polystyrene lumps, compact discs, cigarette filter tips, nylons and other plastics. Some are in the form of microscopic grains, others in lumps. And the impact is highly damaging to wildlife, nature, the environment, and our resources.

The Meek Family, well known in outdoors and adventure circles, are doing their part to rid the world of single use plastic through their Kids Against Plastic campaign (was Clear Plastic UK). Did you know that around 100,000 sea mammals die from entanglement or ingestion of plastic in the oceans? The family of four have therefore committed to removing 100,000 plastic bottles from the environment, encouraging people to stop using single use plastic, and lobbying big brands to stop using plastic packaging.

Inspired by their ambitious campaign, we organised a joint-up event held over one week to help clean up our local areas and contribute to the Meek’s removal or 100,000 littered plastic bottles. Between us we managed to collect in excess of 700 items of single use plastic waste – plus a whole host of other rubbish including glass bottles, crisp packets, drinks cans, McDonalds packaging, paper waste, and a football. A huge thank you to all the bloggers who took part, including…

Of course, the cleanup doesn’t have to stop now that the event is over. We’re encouraging as many people as possible to join the Meek family with cleaning up our country. Sparing just 20 minutes to get outside and pick up some plastic will help the goal of 100,000 plastic bottles be reached. Good for you and good for our planet.

Share your plastic haul on social media and tag #OutdoorBloggers and #Refuse4Good before putting your haul in a suitable bin to give it the best chance possible of being recycled and not ending up in landfill.