Vote now to help banish plastic from Morecambe Bay

You can turn the tide on litter. Your vote can win funding for Morecambe Bay from an internationally renowned conservation charity. You will be banishing plastic from our beautiful coast and countryside.

The only UK-based project to be shortlisted in the ‘marine’ category of the European Outdoor Conservation Association’s annual funding awards, ‘Clear the Bay by Day’, seeks to mobilise an army of volunteers to rid Morecambe Bay’s beaches, footpaths and cycleways of plastic waste and the new pandemic of discarded masks and PPE.

Volunteers for Morecambe Bay Partnership, the charity leading this charge against plastic in Morecambe Bay, have removed 47 tonnes of rubbish – the equivalent of four double decker buses - from the bay over recent years.

Yet sadly, in the last few months we are drowning in a wave of discarded masks. If left unchecked, plastic pollution will irreversibly harm the fragile ecology of our beauty spots.

‘Clear the Bay by Day’ will remove litter with the help of an army of dedicated volunteers. It will raise awareness so that local communities, businesses and visitors who cherish Morecambe Bay, can reverse this worrying trend by simple actions such as shunning the use of single-use plastics, taking litter home and passing the message on.

And, Clear the Bay by Day will be exploring new ways to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill, by working with innovative companies to explore alternative uses for unrecyclable plastics.

Susannah Bleakley, CEO of Morecambe Bay Partnership, said: “Everyone can help – it only takes a few seconds to vote, you don’t need to leave an email, just your support to keep Morecambe Bay beautiful.

"We’ve all found a new connection with nature since the pandemic; being outdoors helps us relax and gives us a boost. Now, you can easily and quickly give something back to nature – just by voting for this incredibly important project.

"As lockdown eased there was a growing tide of new litter – the disposable mask. Disposable masks are now more common litter items than plastic bags. After the plastic bag tax, it was drinks bottles that overtook bags as the most common litter item – and now sadly we find more disposable masks.

"The bay is cherished by so many local people and holidaymakers who share a love of the Bay – the stunning views from our promenades and headlands, the quiet country lanes and picturesque villages and towns. But plastic and other waste is having a terrible lasting effect – it looks awful, it’s dangerous to wildlife and it never decomposes.

"Please, vote now and you will save our beautiful Bay from the blight of plastic and other waste. Thank you for all your votes.”

Voting is open now on the EOCA website here and closes at noon on Thursday October 22.