How to organise a paddle cleanup

Organise a paddle cleanup and become a champion of your local waterways. Keeping your river, lake or canal tidy means that everyone can continue to enjoy these beautiful resources. However, during this time to ensure we all remain safe, please supplement all risk assessments and cleanup briefings with our latest COVID-19 advice.

We’ve had 125 recorded so far. It doesn’t take lots of time or effort, just a willingness to bring about change. Here’s how you can get involved.

• Gather friends or family and plan a clean up. It doesn’t have to be anything big and fancy, as long as you’re cleaning up, that’s all that matters.
• Think about equipment. Gloves, bags and hand sanitisers are essential. You might even think about a litter picker too. 
• Plan a date and time to meet. Remember you don’t all need to be ON the water. There is usually plenty of litter on the banks too.
• Let your local MP know what you’ve been up to, or better still, invite them to join you! 

Free toolkit to help organise a paddle cleanup

To help you we have created a free Paddle Cleanup Toolkit for our campaign supporters to download. There’s loads of advice and handy hints and tips in there to get you started.

The toolkit also includes a Paddle Cleanup poster to help you promote your event. We have also added a sample press release and media advisory so you can tell others about the good work you have done.

After you’ve done your cleanup, don’t forget to:

• Empty out your recyclables into those items that can be recycled, and those that have to go to landfill. 
• Tell us about your cleanup and upload your photos

Why do we want to know about your cleanup? We want to build a bigger picture of the pollution problem that water users are facing.

We need this information so we can paint an accurate picture about the nationwide issue but also shout about all the fantastic work paddlers are doing for the environment. 

Please note that while we are really keen for you to take part in Paddle Cleanups, please ensure you have undertaken all necessary risk assessments, have the appropriate insurances in place, and have secured any necessary consents.