Thanet Coast Project
The Pegwell Bay Spring Clean on Friday 20 March turned out to be a fantastic sunny day with 34 volunteers coming to help clean the beach in Kent’s largest National Nature Reserve (NNR) in Cliffsend.
The beach looked clean from a distance, but up close there were plenty of microplastics and fragments of fishing ropes. The main 100 meter survey area recorded 8.5 kg of marine litter.
A second stretch of beach was cleaned with another 87 kg of marine litter collected over 150 meters.
Volunteers collected items including helium balloons and clothing. Plastics accounted for 85% of everything collected.
The surveys are part of the Marine Conservation Society’s Beachwatch scheme. With over 20 years of survey data for this beach, we can assess the source and type of marine litter that’s washed up.
The beach clean and surveys are organised by the Thanet Coast Project, and run with help from the Kent Wildlife Trust who manage the NNR on behalf of all the landowners.
Three more beach cleans are planned at Pegwell Bay this year. All Thanet Coast Project events and activities can be viewed on Thanet Coast Project’s website.
Thanet Coast Project Beach Cleans 2026
- Summer Beach Clean – Pegwell Bay: 2pm on Monday 25 June 2026 at Pegwell Bay, Cliffsend. Book via the Marine Conservation Society’s website.
- Great British Beach Clean 2026 – Pegwell Bay: 10am on Saturday 19 September 2026 at Pegwell Bay, Cliffsend. Book via the Marine Conservation Society’s website.
- Great British Beach Clean 2026 – Northern Sea Wall, Minnis Bay, Birchington: 2pm on Saturday 19 September 2026 at Plum Pudding, Minnis Bay, Birchington. Book via the Marine Conservation Society’s website.
- Winter Beach Clean – Pegwell Bay: 10.30am on Friday 4 December 2026 at Pegwell Bay, Cliffsend. Book via the Marine Conservation Society’s website.
Advisory service
For online beach clean advice and notifications, visit Thanet Coast Project’s website.
Rise Up Clean Up
Rise Up Clean Up will be holding community beach cleans on:
- Sunday 12 April 2026 at 11am
- Sunday 10 May 2026 at 11am
- Sunday 14 June 2026 at 11am
Meet at the Octopus beach hut opposite Arlington House on Margate Main Sands. All equipment will be provided.
Please visit Rise Up Clean Up’s website for more information.
Broadstairs Litter Pickers
Broadstairs Litter Pickers will be running events on:
- Saturday 9 May 2026 at 10am: Pierremont Park, Broadstairs (Meet in front of Pierremont Hall)
- Saturday 23 May 2026 at 10am: Viking Bay, Broadstairs (Meet in front of ‘The Old Look Out’)
You can join as an individual, a family, with friends, or as a whole club or society.
Please bring your own gloves, pickers and bin bags will be provided.
Ramsgate Litter Pickers
As part of the Great Ramsgate Spring Clean which ran from Friday 13 to Saturday 21 March, Ramsgate Litter Pickers cleared a huge 342 bags of rubbish. There were 302 bags collected by Spring Clean group picks, and 40 more collected by individual litter pickers during the week.
The group would like to thank all their volunteers, and said, “It’s been wonderful seeing how much cleaner Ramsgate is looking, and especially seeing how much some of our old ‘grotspots’ have really improved now that some of our Ramsgate Litter Pickers are visiting regularly. Special thanks to two people without whom none of this would have happened. Our talented designer Guy Sawtell, who organised the whole timetable, designed the fab posters, and turned up at nearly every pick himself, posting photos and reports on all of them. Secondly, Maxine Morgan, who was with us as usual for most of the picks and sorted out support from Ramsgate Town Council for the others, and came up with answers to all our little problems along the way…”
The group has 18 pick locations this year, including at least one in every Ramsgate Town Council ward. The Radford House litter hub volunteers had already logged more than 3,000 bags on the Cleanup.uk website, before the latest spring clean started.
PermalinkCleanupUK
CleanupUK hosts numerous litter picks across several locations and Cleanup hubs – please check Facebook for details.
You can borrow litter picking equipment from one of the six CleanupUK hubs in Thanet, to run a beach clean or litter picks locally. Enter your postcode via CleanupUK’s website to find your nearest hub.
PermalinkGreat British Spring Clean
Thanet has been buzzing with activity as we enter the peak season for community action.
We are proud to once again support this national campaign. The council hosted a staff beach clean at the end of March on Margate Main Sands, which focused on the harbour and the Nayland Rock end of the beach.
