ENVIRONMENT

Lucy Hooper, Solicitor

ENVIRONMENT

Lucy Hooper, Solicitor

A team of volunteers from Plymouth supporting the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) with a beach clean. They are standing on the beach, with the sea in the background.

Volunteering to clean our beaches

In September 2024, members of our Plymouth office volunteered in a beach clean organised by the Marine Conservation Society (MCS). Lucy Hooper, one of our environmental reps, volunteered on the day and shared her experience.

Tell us about the experience

As an environmental rep I'm passionate about sustainability and committed to keeping our coastlines clean as someone who has always lived close to the sea.

The purpose of the day was to remove litter from the beach while also collecting vital data of the types of litter (in particular, plastics) found so that MCS can track the litter back to source and use it to campaign for change. During the volunteering we worked in groups covering different areas of the beach to pick as much litter as possible, recording each item as we went along.

What was the impact?

We were pleased to collect 11.50kg of litter (674 items) and clean a portion of the beach which was 100m by 20m. As part of a team of 29 volunteers we had great impact, and it was a such a brilliant day to come together with others to tackle litter in our local community.

The data collected will assist MCS to campaign for change. For example, it has previously helped MCS' campaign for the introduction of the plastic bag charge, banning microplastics in personal care products and supporting taxes on single-use plastic items.

What else have the Plymouth environmental reps rolled out this year?

Earlier this year we organised a pop-up second hand clothing store to encourage colleagues to shop sustainably and reduce the negative impacts of fast-fashion, rolled out a project aimed at colleagues turning off their monitors with the hope of reducing emissions and ran an environmental photography competition to showcase the beauty of nature and doing all we can to protect it.

At our next planning meeting we will be discussing key environmental issues and potential office events/campaigns to address them. Stay tuned!

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