Beach Cleans
Help us keep Northern Ireland’s beaches beautiful!
Our Local Environmental Quality team at Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful conducts marine litter surveys every quarter on 12 beaches across Northern Ireland. To ensure accurate data collection, we clean these beaches within two weeks of each survey to prevent duplicate litter data in the next survey.
We’re looking for groups, businesses, or organisations to support us by completing a beach clean in January, April, July, or October. Your help will make a real difference in keeping our beaches clean and our data accurate.
If you’d like to get involved or find out more, please get in touch — we’d love to hear from you!
FAQs
Why does the Local Environmental Quality (LEQ) Team need volunteer support for beach clean-ups?
Our LEQ Team conducts quarterly marine litter surveys on 12 beaches across Northern Ireland. The data collected from these surveys is compiled into our annual Marine Litter Report, which helps us monitor and understand litter trends along our coastline.
To ensure the accuracy of our data, we need to clean the beaches within two weeks of each survey. This prevents duplicate litter data in the next survey and also helps to keep our local beaches cleaner and more enjoyable for everyone.
By volunteering for a beach clean-up, your group, business, or organisation can play a direct role in protecting our marine environment. Together, we can make a positive impact on Northern Ireland’s beautiful coastline.
Who can volunteer?
Anyone can get involved!
We recommend groups of around 10 to 20 volunteers for an effective beach clean, but smaller groups are just as welcome. Whether you're a corporate team, community group, or simply a group of family and friends, your support can make a big difference in helping to keep Northern Ireland’s beaches clean and beautiful.
When can I do a beach clean?
We encourage beach cleans to take place after our marine litter surveys in:
- January
- April
- July
- October
To ensure the beach and litter are easily accessible, we recommend scheduling your beach clean during low tide. You can check local tide times here.
What information do I need to collect during a beach clean?
During your beach clean, we ask that you record the following information:
- Date of the clean
- Number of volunteers involved
- Number of bags of rubbish collected
Once your clean-up is complete, please email this information to leq@keepnorthernirelandbeautiful.org. This helps us track the impact of your clean and keep our records up to date.
Can I borrow equipment?
The LEQ team can lend you litter pickers and bags to make your beach clean easier. Email leq@keepnorthernirelandbeautiful.org to arrange this.
What do I do with the rubbish I collect?
In most cases, your local council can arrange to collect the rubbish after your clean-up. We recommend contacting them in advance to make these arrangements. Alternatively, you can bring the rubbish to your local amenity site (local dump) for proper disposal.
Ready to get involved?
We’d love to have your support in keeping Northern Ireland’s beaches clean. To organise a beach clean or borrow equipment, please get in touch!
Check out our Litter-Picking Quick Guide and H&S resources here for all the information you need to keep your volunteers safe.