Raise a glass to the volunteers cleaning up Porthcawl beach
SEVENTY two volunteers cleared a fifth of a tonne of rubbish off Porthcawl beach as part of an initiative that encourages people to leave only footprints behind.
The Barefoot Wine Beach Rescue Project is in its 10th year and, to add a competitive element to the beach clean, a giant set of Barefoot Wine ‘Scales of Gra-TOE-tude’ was brought down.
The winning team on Sunday which collected the most rubbish received a bottle of Barefoot Wine to toast their success.
Olga Senkina of Barefoot Wine & Bubbly, said: “We are very proud to have worked with 6,200 volunteers to collect 13 tonnes of litter from UK beaches over the last nine years.”
The project will run across the country throughout the summer in partnership with environmental charity, Surfers Against Sewage (SAS), who, for the last 27 years, have worked to protect the UK’s oceans, waves, beaches and wildlife.
Dom Ferris, head of community and engagement at Surfers Against Sewage, said: “Over the past decade it has never ceased to amaze us how incredible community spirit can be – something we see every year at the Barefoot Wine Beach Rescue Project.
“We’ve already had loads of interest from local volunteers, so we couldn’t wait to get down to Porthcawl beach and work with Barefoot and the local community towards our vision of plastic free coastlines.”
In the past nine years, Barefoot Wine has held more than 84 beach cleans covering all regions of the UK. The Barefoot Wine Beach Rescue Pro- ject has helped remove more than 13 tonnes of marine plastic pollution and mobilised more than 6,200 volunteers, all while raising awareness and educating people.