Programme nearbyCommunityLondonOrganise a beach and river litter survey in your areaTurn beach cleans into evidence Surfers Against Sewage beach cleans ask volunteers to record what they find. Brands and councils listen when residents bring sorted data, not just full bags. What you can do - Find a beach clean near you or register your own - Sort litter into categories on the shore and log items in the SAS app - Invite river groups upstream so plastic is traced to its source How it works Organisers receive tally sheets and bags. One hour of cleaning plus ten minutes of sorting creates open data policymakers cannot ignore. Why it matters Joyful crowds on the sand plus hard numbers push companies to redesign packaging and councils to fix storm overflows.beach cleanlittersurvey +1
Programme nearbyCommunityKielUse Kippenorakels to keep butts off the FördeVote with your butt, not on the pavement Kiel installed 40 Kippenorakels: street ashtrays with a voting display. In the first six months they collected about one million cigarette butts that would otherwise litter parks and the waterfront. What you can do - Use Kippenorakels or pocket ashtrays instead of dropping butts on paths and beaches. - Join clean-ups that pair litter removal with learning about marine litter (campaign: Haltet Kiel und die Förde kippenfrei). Why it matters Filters leach toxins into soil and water; proper disposal protects the Förde and the Meeresschutzstadt network Kiel joined in 2020.litteroceanvolunteering
Programme nearbyCommunityDüsseldorfCollect cigarette butts during KippenwocheCollect cigarette butts during Kippenwoche R(h)ein-Kippen runs each 1 to 8 May as a week-long butt-collection action ahead of the September river day. Cigarette filters leach toxins into water; counting and removing them makes the problem visible without guilt-only messaging. What you can do - Join an open Kippenwoche group via RhineCleanUp MACH MIT or MainCleanUp - Organise a small team: use screw-top jars or cartons, wear disposable gloves, and tally what you find - Request butt bins, grabbers, and gloves from the programme where offered; some cities also set up collection columns to show scale - Read the R(h)ein-Kippen overview for background and dates How it works The action lasts one week each spring. You can collect solo or register a public group. RhineCleanUp reports community totals (for example over 250,000 butts in Düsseldorf in past years) to sharpen prevention conversations with councils and venues. Why it matters Butts are among the most common items on European riverbanks. A focused week trains the eye, keeps filters out of storm drains, and builds habits that carry into the larger shoreline cleanups in September.cigarette buttspreventionriver +2
