The off-roader beach clean

A team of beach cleaners battling the rise in rubbish on Britain’s coastline has used a rugged off-roader to clear up polluted beauty spots.

Marine biology student Emily Stevenson, 21, and her father Rob, 50, have been cleaning beaches in Cornwall for 10 years.

Their community group, Beach Guardian, is made up of an army of dedicated volunteers – but its task is getting tougher as the problem gets progressively worse.

Nissan steps forward

After struggling to reach remote locations and remove bulky rubbish from Cornish beaches with their family car, they posted a request for help on social media.

Nissan stepped forward and loaned them a brand-new Navara off-roader AT32 pick-up truck – complete with snorkel – to help with the hardest of tasks.

On Constantine Bay, where Poldark is filmed, the Navara pulled out rope and plastic nets that had been buried deep into the sand for more than two years.

Remote rocky beaches were easily negotiated and the off-roader’s snorkel allowed it to wade through deep water without the engine cutting out.

Community heroes

More than eight million tonnes of plastic end up in the world’s oceans every year, with devastating consequences for marine wildlife, fisheries and tourism.

During its recent Great British Beach Clean Up, the Marine Conservation Society found 718 pieces of litter for every 100 metre stretch of UK beach surveyed.

Nissan decided to highlight the hard work of Beach Guardian in order to celebrate UK community heroes tackling beach plastic pollution.

Nissan is now inviting community groups across Europe to nominate remote and tough-to-reach beaches or other locations where the Navara could help them clear plastic waste.

The company is also encouraging its European employees to use its own volunteering programme, Days for Change, to join local beach cleaning projects where appropriate.

Tell Nissan which beaches need help

In the UK, members of the public or community groups who want to highlight an area of beach that needs clearing of plastic waste should use the free ‘What3Words’ photo app to send an image of the beach plastic they’ve found along with its precise location to Nissan GB at beachclean@nissan.co.uk.

What3Words is global addressing platform that allocates every 3m x 3m location a simple three word address, e.g. ocean.plastic.waste.

This address corresponds to a GPS location, which allows a specific spot on a beach to be identified and easily shared – even along the most rugged and remote coastlines.