The UK’s leading marine charity says it hopes more people than ever before will take part in the 25th Great British Beach Clean.

The Marine Conservation Society's annual clean-up will take place at Gwithian Beach on Saturday 15th September (12.30pm) and people are welcome to come along and lend a helping hand.

Cleaners will be joined by George Eustice, MP for Camborne, Redruth and Hayle and Minister of State, with responsibility for agriculture, fisheries and food.

Mr Eustice said: “I have long been a supporter of the beach cleans organised by the Marine Conservation Society. Not only are they a great way of bringing people together but they also carry out an invaluable service of keeping our beaches clean. But there is still more that we can do to tackle the problems of litter on our beaches and raise awareness about the threat it poses to the marine environment and I would encourage as many people as possible to get involved and take part in turning the tide on litter.”

The events around Cornwall’s coastline will help ensure some of the most beautiful beaches in the UK aren’t being taken for granted.

The Great British Beach Clean is part of the MCS Beachwatch programme. It not only spruces up hundreds of beaches around the UK coast, but volunteers also record the litter they find, and it’s this aspect that has really helped MCS change policy and behaviours over the last quarter of a century.

The annual event takes place every third weekend in September as part of the charity’s year round Beachwatch programme.

Volunteers who get involved at Gwithian will be joining an army of beach cleaners not only around the UK, Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, but all over the world as part of the global International Coastal Clean-up, which takes a snap shot of beach litter across the planet on a single weekend.

Lizzie Prior, MCS Beach and River Clean Project Officer, says volunteers are the lifeblood of the event and have been since 1994.

She said: “Last year an amazing 123 volunteers took part in the Great British Beach Clean on Cornish beaches. We’d love to see even more people heading to beaches around the county."

Each event only takes a couple of hours and, alongside the clean, 100 metres of beach are surveyed. The form is straightforward to complete, and helps MCS to add to the local and UK litter data picture, as well as the global view. Each clean-up has an organiser so there’s plenty of advice on the day on how to fill in the simple data sheets. This information will be used by MCS to work with governments and industry in the charity’s ongoing work to stop litter getting on to our beaches in the first place.

To get involved in the 25th Great British Beach Clean and be part of the most influential fight against marine litter in the UK visit: www.mcsuk.org/beachwatch/greatbritishbeachclean. You can also speak to the team on 01989 566017.