Loop Magazine

They bring
beauty all year
round, provide
us with years
of enjoyment,
through holidays which give us
the idyllic place to join in with
our passions, some of which
wouldn’t be possible without
these places. They are forever
changing with each day that
goes by, so why are they subjected
with all our unwanted
waste. If you haven’t already
guessed, this is referring to
Cornwall’s beaches- it’s time we
gave something back to them.
Five 1st year students are doing
just that, by setting up a
student-led group called the
Beach Clean Project. All project
leaders of which are studying
ecological or nature based
courses, and so have a real desire
for the protection of the
environment and marine life.
Marine and natural history
photography student, Alexandra
Kaminski-Gaze, a project
leader of the Beach Clean Project,
explains the team’s main
aim is “picking up all rubbish
that we see on the beaches, so
that it’s a safer environment
for people to enjoy but also so
that the marine life doesn’t try
to eat it or get trapped in it.”
Helen Piper, an environmental
science student, and
another of the project leaders,
describes another of its
aims is to get students out to
beaches that can’t be accessed
very easily on public transport.
“There’s loads of lovely
beaches in Cornwall, that are
really difficult to get to without
organised transport, such
as Porthowan, where we are
hosting our first beach clean.”
These two aims are very key
for the project, however the
underlying aim for setting
up this project is to make
students aware of how their
consumerism has an environmental
impact. “You can
help students understand this
by making them more aware
of their attitudes when shopping,
encouraging them to reuse
plastic bags so they don’t
contribute to waste, ending
up in drains then escaping in
to the sea, causing a potential
risk to the environment,”
explains Anoushka Carter,
another of the team leaders.
So far the Beach Clean Project
has had a lot of volunteer
uptake, following its recent
launch party on the 6th
March at Penryn’s Miss Pea
Pods Cafe, with 222 follows
on their Facebook page leading
to a huge turnout for their
Porthtowan and Gylly beach
cleans at the end of March.
“We already had 180 people
signed as attending on our first
beach cleans on our Facebook
page, however we’re aware
that the numbers may vary
until we’ve organised a few
more events,” says Alexandra.
The amount of interest that
the Beach Clean Project have
had so far, suggests Falmouth
university students have a real
concern for the environment
they’re studying in, and portrays
students in a fairer light
than the typical stereotypical
associations they are given.
Jolyon Sharpe, Cornwall
Councils Countryside Officer,
says “marine litter is an international
problem, that
manifests itself at a local level,
and students have an active
interest in the environment,
though, not all young
people have this outlook.”
He further adds that littering
is the main contributor to the
marine litter. “The Keep Britain
Tidy Group have done a
great deal of work profiling
what type of person litters and
younger people are not the only
group that contribute toward
the problem. Everyone should
be encouraged to do their bit
to help tackle rubbish and consider
not only where the litter
has come from but also where
it will eventually end up.”
The council assert that they
do not manage all beaches
in Cornwall but do provide
waste and recycling bins on
all beaches and support beach
‘cleansing’ through similar
initiatives, such as the SAS
litter-picking events, by gathering
and discarding rubbish
collected, providing the event
has been registered with them.
The Beach Clean Project have
acknowledged this, however
they have adopted a different
way of disposing and
reusing the debris collected
from beach cleaning events.
“I like the fact that it is student-led
and is something that
has been an initiative of our
own so we haven’t jumped on
a band wagon, you could say
that we have been inspired by
organisations like SAS (Surf-
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