Saltburn and Marske Awarded Plastic Free Coastline Official Status

Apr 23

Saltburn and Marske are proud to have achieved the Surfers Against Sewage Plastic Free Coastlines Award. This achievement was officially announced by Surfers Against Sewage on 23 April.

Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) put out a call for community leaders to steer their Plastic Free Coastlines Campaign. Barbara Helen, from Keeping It Clean At Saltburn and Carolyn Granthier, from Marske Litter Action, took the opportunity to work together with local SAS representative Nick Noble and Regional SAS representative Simon Palmer, to put the campaign plan into action.

Together the team have worked with the Parish Council and Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council Councillors Stuart Smith and Philip Thomson, local businesses and the community to achieve this award.

Barbara said: “We have all worked very hard, achieving this award. This is only a part of the journey, but a mark to show we are committed to reducing our use of single use plastics that have been proven to be so damaging to the environment and wildlife.”

Both local and parish councils have passed motions pledging to phase out their single use plastics. Saltburn businesses, Rapps Café, Grasers, The Guns Bar and Real Meals together with Marske businesses, The Wynd Pantry, The Wynd Fruit Shop and Rose and Potter are the first in their towns to pledge to phase out single use plastics where possible. Some of the businesses have already achieved their certificate and window sticker, and soon to be featured on the SAS Plastic Free Coastlines map.

In Marske, Carolyn is working with local schools and community groups who are supporting the campaign to look at ways to reduce single-use plastics.

Barbara and Carolyn hope other businesses and towns will follow and get on board with the campaign. A team at Redcar have started out on the journey with the Plastic Free Coastlines campaign and it is hoped that other community leaders will come forward to involve more towns in Redcar and Cleveland.

For more information, please see the Surfers Against Sewage website or like and follow the Plastic Free Coastlines Redcar and Cleveland Facebook group and Twitter page supported by Duco Digital, who are managing the social media pages with news and developments.

Barbara and Carolyn added: "We can all help the Plastic Free Coastlines Campaign, with our individual actions; Refuse, Refill, Re-use, Recycle."