On the 20th of September, the Final Straw Foundation took part in the Marine Conservation Society’s Great British Beach Clean. This year, the team were joined by Liberty from the Marine Conservation Society on Hayling Island, to film with Richard Gaisford from Good Morning Britain about the Great British Beach Clean and its benefits to our environment. A team of 100 fantastic volunteers worked extremely hard to remove 83 kg from the shoreline. Alongside the volunteers who cleaned nearly 3 miles of coastline, a dedicated team of 5 volunteers from the NHS helped with the Marine Conservation Society survey, meticulously clearing and recording litter in a designated 100m stretch. This had some astonishing results, with over 650 nurdles being removed from the 100m stretch.

Final Straw Foundation made a significant impact at Victorious Festival, engaging over 100 people in interactive activities and raising awareness about the urgent issue of plastic pollution. Festivalgoers had the opportunity to create eco-friendly bracelets from recycled materials and decorate fish for a large-scale art installation that highlighted the alarming prediction of more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050. FSF team members spoke to over 1000 people about their work and how people can get involved and their new mascot Tallulah the Turtle met hundreds more! It was the first appearance of their new Education Station trailer too, giving festival revellers a sneak peek at what they can expect once it launches in the Autumn. By the end of the weekend, the FSF team had successfully reached a large and diverse audience, empowering people to get involved and join the movement towards a plastic-free future.

Final Straw Foundation‘s 2024 Wild Beach School season is well under way, with over 850 children attending so far this year. Wild Beach School is a place where children can learn without limits and foster a love for the natural world around them, by getting kids out of the classroom and onto the beach. Children can explore the intertidal zone and all of its fantastic flora and fauna, as well as learning about the environmental systems that characterise the coastline. Wild Beach School introduces the beauty and importance of marine environments to children of all ages and backgrounds, even serving as some children’s first ever trip to the beach. At Final Straw Foundation, they believe that children who feel connected to the natural world around them will grow up understanding the importance of protecting it, creating the next generation of conservationists.

Final Straw Foundation participates in an annual Plastic-Free Day, held on the 8th May, a time to evaluate how much plastic is used and a chance to reflect on how we can reduce our dependence on it. This year almost 9,500 students and individuals took part, including schools signing up to hold large-scale events, businesses registered to encourage their staff to cut back on their plastic consumption and individuals joined in, committing to change one little thing about their habits to reduce how much plastic they use.

The Final Straw Foundation are recruiting! The team are looking for a Community & Volunteering Officer, a full time role, based in Emsworth. Are you creative, confident, practical, and a passionate advocate for protecting, enjoying, and conserving our environment and oceans? If that’s you, then you have until Friday 10th of May to apply. You will act as the main point of contact for community activities and drive all community engagement, ensuring that the core team and volunteers are fully updated with ongoing events and opportunities. For more information click HERE.

As part of the Great British Spring Clean, the Final Straw Foundation worked in partnership with the Chichester Harbour Federation to clean up the streets and shores of the Chichester Harbour area. Now in its ninth year, the Great British Spring Clean, organised by the ‘Keep Britain Tidy’ campaign, the nation’s biggest mass-action environmental campaign. The Final Straw Foundation held a central clean along the shores and in the town of Emsworth, whilst the Chichester Harbour Federation co-ordinated smaller satellite cleans. In total, an amazing 170 volunteers came together to collect a fantastic 260kg of rubbish. This year the FSF have seen 260 volunteers attend their beach cleans and, together with the FSF team, have collected a whopping 730kg of rubbish from their local coastlines.

Final Straw Foundation recently announced its brand new project, the FSF Education Station! The aim is to address the plastic crisis by collecting and recycling plastics commonly found on beach cleans to create new, sustainable items. At the heart of the Education Station is novel machinery designed to grind up the collected plastics and transform them into new, functional items such as flower pots, sunglasses, pegs and carabiners. This circular approach to recycling diverts plastic waste from our oceans and landfills and demonstrates the potential for creating valuable products from discarded materials. The next steps now include modifying a special trailer, which will allow Final Straw to take the #FSFEducationStation to schools, organisations and events, allowing people to get involved and create something new from something usually discarded!

Beach Clean Alert! Join Final Straw Foundation for a litter pick on beautiful West Wittering Beach, PO20 8GH, on Saturday 3rd February, from 10:00 – 12:00. Please join the team on the beach near the Beach Cafe. Every bit of litter and rubbish picked up will make a difference. Please ensure you register for this event in plenty of time – note that registration for this event closes at 9am on the *1st of February*. Sign up HERE and you for upcoming 2024 public beach clean-up events please click HERE.

The team at the Final Straw Foundation have begun the next phase of water sampling, adding to their spatial analysis of forever chemicals in Langstone and Chichester Harbour, a collaborative research project which is taking place with Brighton University to analyse micro particulates in the harbours. They hope these results complement their forever chemical study and really inform people ‘what’s in the water-pre and post storm’. This study will provide updated results on what is happening in our harbours and if these micro plastic particles are increasing, staying the same or decreasing. The study will also assist in identifying on the type and source of plastic pollution and the difference present pre and post storm water discharges. We’ll keep you posted on the results which are expected early March 2024.