Million Mile Beach Clean in Hastings: Residents invited to tackle plastic pollution on Rock-A-Nore Beach

The Million Mile Beach Clean, set up by ocean conservation charity Surfers Against Sewage (SAS), encourages volunteers across the UK to clean up their local area and help tackle plastic pollution.

Dominic Harvey, a regional representative for SAS, is leading a clean along Rock-A-Nore Beach in January and is encouraging residents to get involved.

He said: “Anyone can take part. It’s just a turn-up event.

“I’m providing reusable bin bags, litter pickers to those who can’t or don’t want to bend down, gloves and hand sanitsers.”

The clean will be one of thousands taking place across the UK in 2023 in a bid to reduce plastic pollution across one-million miles of land.

In 2021, 138,425 volunteers took part, removing 387,563 kilos of plastic pollution from the environment and cleaning up 1,101,015 miles.

Dedicated litter-pickers add up their miles on Strava, an app used to track exercise, while cleaning areas such as beaches, rivers and parks.

Speaking about why the scheme is important to him, Dominic said: “My whole life has been based around the sea.

“I see the sea for a massive opportunity for jobs, livelihoods, economic progress, climate regulation, food, loads of different things – so I think the sea’s a massive part of our economic growth.”

The recent sewage discharges across the South East, which some residents held protests against this year, were also a factor which inspired him to take action.

He said: “It’s part of the reason why I joined surfers against sewage. I wanted to see what I could do as an individual.”

He also hopes the beach clean will ‘inspire people to see what they can do as well’.

He added: “That’s my part in it, trying to unite people together.”

The beach clean will take place on Saturday, January 7, from 1pm to 3pm.

The meeting point will be located in the car park at 21 Rock-a-Nore Rd, TN34 3DW, and the 1.6 mile walk will take participants from there to Goat Ledge Cafe.