From Beachwatch to Don't Let Go

Balloon litter found on a beach clean

Sea Champion Andy has been organising beach cleans for MCS for a number of years now and he was becoming increasingly concerned about the amount of balloon litter he was finding so he decided to do something about it.

"I got involved in the Don’t Let Go campaign through my initial work as a Beachwatch organiser. I have been running Beachwatch events since 2012 and have frequently found evidence of balloons and sky lanterns during these events. I have run over 20 separate Beachwatch events since 2012 at a number of different locations in local to me.

I decided to get involved in this campaign for two reasons. Firstly to raise awareness locally about the dangers to the environment from balloons and sky lanterns being released. Secondly to do what seemed to be impossible at the time, get a ban introduced by my local Council to stop any balloon and sky lantern releases on land they owned. 

Sea Champion Andy running a beach clean

I had managed to meet a number of local Councillors through running Beachwatch events, some of whom had previously attended my beach cleans. To get a ban introduced, I first contacted these local councillors I had met. I had to be quite persistent phoning or emailing every week then after a few weeks of being passed around to various Councillors and Council officials, eventually I was put in touch with a local Councillor called Diane. Diane luckily is a very passionate, environmentally aware Councillor and she agreed to help.

We met up and discussed the campaign and she agreed to support me in trying to get a ban introduced in the Sefton Metropolitan Borough area. After a further few weeks of intermittent contact, Diane informed me that she had prepared a motion that would go before the next available full Council meeting.

Following the meeting on April 24th, I received the awesome news that the motion had been passed unanimously. This means that Sefton council will be introducing a ban on both balloon and sky lantern releases on council owned land as soon as possible.

My advice to anyone wanting to get involved in this campaign, just do it and don’t let go of the idea of getting them banned in your area. Just be determined and persistent and you will get there." 

Fantastic work Andy! If you'd like to find out more about our Don't Let Go campaign then visit our website - mcsuk.org/dontletgo.