A great day for a beach clean for plastic free St Ives.

We teamed up with The Coffee Lounge and Cornish Gems, and Surfers Against Sewage to take the first steps towards Plastic free St Ives.

The early Sunday didn’t stop all the volunteers and supporters who came along to join us on the windy weekend morning. We all met up at The Coffee Lounge where we were greeted by Emma and her team, and were kindly offered delicious coffees and hot chocolates, expertly prepared by the team!

As all the volunteers were fueling up, Annette from SAS talked us through the plan for the day, and shared some of the many plastic free alternatives for everyday objects available now, as well as some shocking facts about plastic pollution. Most of the items are available for purchase directly form The Coffee Lounge, and you will even receive a complimentary coffee with the purchase of every JOCO cup!

Even ‘The Beast from the East’ couldn’t scare the volunteers off, as we headed down Porthminster Beach. We were even joined by more supporters along the way!

As expected, Porthminster Beach welcomed us with its breath taking views. We all geared up with gloves and bags, rolled up our sleeves (not literally – it was very cold!) and got to work. Thanks to the great number of people who came along, we managed to go through the beach twice, and the more agile explored a bit further. Now that is commitment!

Although the beach looked clean at first sight, it was shocking to find that there was still a lot of plastic items buried under the sand. 

After separating the recyclables from non-recyclables, and making sure everything was safely put away in Annette’s van, we headed back to the Coffee Lounge for more coffee and cakes.

Penzance and Perranporth are leading the way towards Plastic Free Cornwall, with both towns receiving their Plastic Free Status in the last couple of months. St Ives and a few other communities across Cornwall are currently taking steps towards receiving the same status, and hopefully in the coming years we will be in Plastic Free Cornwall.

Huge THANK YOU to Emma and Annette for organising the day! Make sure you follow The Coffee Lounge to find out all the details about the next beach cleaning days, and info on how to get involved. We hope to see you all there!