All cleans are welcome, whether it’s a large public community clean or a small private clean.
Simply register your clean here and arrange it for whichever date and location suits you best (beach, street, park, river, mountain). By registering you’ll also be covered by our public liability insurance and can receive free equipment for up to 30 people.
You decide whether it’s a public clean that will appear on our map for anyone to attend, or if you’d prefer it private for yourself or friends and family.
Want to lend a hand and bring your energy to an existing clean? Simply look on our map of public cleans to find your nearest one and get stuck in. All the cleans found on our map are run by members of the public, volunteering their time to run a clean.
Click on the clean you’re interested in to find out the location, date, start time, meeting point info, and the email address of the clean leader. You don’t need to pre-register, but it can be good to send them a message on the email provided to check that they will have enough equipment for everyone interested.
The clean leader will have completed a risk assessment for their clean and everyone attending will be covered by public liability insurance.
We recommend double checking on the day of the clean that it’s still listed on the map to make sure it’s still going ahead and hasn’t been cancelled.
We also recommend that businesses register their own clean, rather than attending a public clean.
Dress appropriately – Make sure you’re dressed for the unpredictable British weather. If you’ve registered your clean with us, you’ll receive a free Million Mile Clean kit which contains gloves, reusable sacks, a first aid kit and hand sanitizer. If you’re able to bring your own gloves then more people can get involved.
Show Up – Arrive at the clean meeting point at the designated time, say “hello” to the clean leader and they will welcome you to the clean.
Kit Up – Once you’ve let them know you’re there, grab a pair of gloves and a reusable sack and you’re ready to go.
Listen Up – The clean leader will run through how to stay safe. As a leader it’s good to explain the threat that plastic pollution poses to our environment, what to look out for during the clean and – most importantly – what we can do to help.
The Main Event – Each clean usually runs for two hours, so make sure you get back to base in plenty of time to reassemble with the rest of the group and separate your recyclables.
Weird & Wonderful – Keep an eye out for weird, wonderful and old items. It’s always interesting to discuss how and why they may have got there!
High Fives & Home – The clean leader might give a round up of the clean and you can have a look at your findings. Hopefully you had fun and maybe even made some new friends. Time to head home and relax- you’ve earned it!
Each kit provides equipment for up to 30 people and includes reusable gloves in a range of sizes, reusable rubbish sacks, a first aid kit, hand sanitizer, and useful information leaflets.
Please note that a kit for just 10 people costs SAS £30. If you’d like to make a donation towards the cost of your kit please do so on our donation page.
After you’ve completed your clean we would love for you to keep hold of your cleaning equipment for any future cleans, or to pass it round to friends and family who also want to get cleaning. The gloves are washable and reusable, and the bags can be rinsed out.
However, if you have any clean, unused equipment that you don’t plan on using, please post it back to us at:
Million Mile Clean Team
Surfers Against Sewage
Unit 2, Wheel Kitty Workshops
St. Agnes
Cornwall
TR5 0RD
We are a small team at HQ, therefore please make sure to allow at least 2 weeks for your equipment to arrive before the day of your event. We will send your kit to you as soon as possible.
We welcome all organisations to do cleans with us, provided that your organisation doesn’t have a negative impact on the environment. Please register your clean with us by selecting whichever date suits you best, and we can then send out some free equipment for your clean. Please note that an equipment kit for just 10 people costs SAS £30. If you would like to make a donation to cover this cost please do so on our donation page.
If you need any extra information on organising the clean , or need kit for more than 30 people please email [email protected]. If you have any business specific enquires please email our Corporate Partnerships Officer at [email protected]
We welcome all ages, however you must be 16 or over to complete a registration for a clean with us. If you are younger than 16 and wish to do a clean, please have a parent or guardian register on your behalf. This includes Duke of Edinburgh participants who are doing their volunteering with us.
Cleans are designed to be a fun day out for all the family. Make sure the kids are suitably dressed, and if you can, bring child-sized gloves.
We understand that not all young children can sustain the fully planned cleaning time, so you’re welcome to stay for as long as you like. Every small action and every minute of your time is appreciated.
Please note that for safeguarding reasons all Duke of Edinburgh and School cleans will not appear publicly on our map.
Absolutely! We are an Approved Activity Provider with Duke of Edinburgh, meaning you can do your volunteering with us and we can officially sign it off.
We have many DofE students who complete beach, river, mountain, park and street cleans as part of their volunteering.
Our DofE students organise and carry out their own cleans, in their own time, using our resources.
To be approved for your Bronze DofE you must do a minimum of one hour a week for the duration of your volunteering period, i.e. you must do at least one hour of cleaning each week for 3 months, totalling 12 unique cleans.
So that we can accurately track your progress (and ensure you have public liability insurance), please register EACH clean on our site here.
When you register your first clean you can also opt for us to send you some free cleaning equipment.
We require photographic evidence of EACH clean you complete at the end of your award so that we can sign off your hours. At the end of your total volunteering, please send ALL your evidence in one email to [email protected] with your DofE participant ID number.
Please make sure to submit the results and brand audit of each of your cleans, so that we can hold companies accountable for using single use plastic packaging!
If you would be interested in running a Million Mile Clean Fundraiser via Just Giving, find out how to fundraise with us on our Just Giving page here.
Assessor details:
If needed you can use the details below as the assessor:
Caroline Willis
Communities Coordinator – Million Mile Clean and Reps
[email protected]
Huge thank you for your support and for getting involved in the Million Mile Clean!
Please note that for safeguarding reasons all DofE cleans will not appear publicly on our map.
It’s always good to notify the local council, beach manager or private land owner for any organised clean event. You don’t always receive a reply, but that shouldn’t stop you from protecting the areas you love.
When you register your clean with us, we will send you a land owner notification letter which you can amend to notify the land owner of your upcoming clean. The notification letter provides the land owner with details of your clean and gives them the opportunity to arrange a rubbish collection or advise on where to dispose of the rubbish safely.
Thanks to an ongoing partnership with Cornwall Council and Clean Cornwall we have been given blanket permission to run cleans on their beaches.
We’ve collaborated with Waterhaul to help get fishing net, rope or other forms of ghost gear off our coastlines, and recycled into cleaning gear. We exclusively use Waterhaul’s 100% recycled litter pickers made from the ghost gear you help to collect. Please fill out their form here to report your findings, and Waterhaul will endeavour to recover the ghost gear, or collaborate with other volunteers and organisations to do so, and then collect for recycling.
Please email the team on [email protected] and we can remove the clean, or make any changes to meeting locations, times and dates. Please make sure to inform us of your clean location name and date so that we can locate it in our records to edit.
Once your clean is over, we recommend recycling as much of the rubbish as possible and placing the rest in the on-site bins. We recommend notifying the land owner before your clean takes place, as they can advise you on the best place to dispose of the rubbish safely. If your beach is council owned, they will have arrangements in place for rubbish collection. If you are unable to recycle or dispose of the rubbish on site, please do so in your home waste collection if possible.
Absolutely – please submit your data for all past cleans on our Submit Your Results page. You’ll be providing us with vital information which helps us to accurately calculate how many people have volunteered, how many miles have been cleaned, and how much rubbish has been collected. You can also provide data for our Brand Audit which allows us to hold the biggest single use plastic polluters to account!
Make sure to submit your results after the clean! If you have registered your clean beforehand with us, we will send you an email with a link to submit your results. You’ll be providing us with vital information which helps us to accurately calculate how many people have volunteered, how many miles have been cleaned, and how much rubbish has been collected. You can also provide data for our Brand Audit which allows us to hold the biggest single use plastic polluters to account and lobby the government to make change!
We love to see photos of your clean so feel free to send us a selection of your photos to [email protected]. Now you’re part of the SAS Million Mile Clean family, we hope you’ll stay in touch with us and continue to take action to save the ocean.
Make sure to register any future cleans you plan to do on our Register a clean page.
We would love for you to keep hold of your cleaning equipment for any future cleans, or to pass it round to friends and family who also want to get cleaning. The gloves are washable and reusable, and the bags can be rinsed out.
However, if you have any clean, unused equipment that you don’t plan on using, please post it back to us at:
Million Mile Clean Team
Surfers Against Sewage
Unit 2, Wheel Kitty Workshops
St. Agnes
Cornwall
TR5 0RD
You can clean anywhere, anytime – any beach, street, river, mountain or park! Unfortunately, plastic pollution can be found all over the UK and every area deserves our protection.
Absolutely, you don’t have to organise a big community event to take part in our campaign. You can register your clean as an individual clean, and if needed just request equipment for yourself. All of your cleaning action counts towards our Million Mile goal.
You can do as much or as little as you want. As a goal we are encouraging people to clean 10 miles throughout the year, but you do not need to do the full 10 miles. You can revisit the same area multiple times throughout the year, or clean a new area each time, every step counts towards our million mile goal.
You can Join our Strava group here which makes it easy and accurate to track how far you walk whilst on your clean.
Just make sure to submit your results after your clean to record how many miles you’ve done – you will be sent an email with a link to submit your results after your clean has taken place. If you haven’t already registered a clean that you’ve completed but want to share your results with us, please do so by entering your findings on our Submit Your Results page.
Yes, once you register your clean with us you will be covered by our public liability insurance.
Strava is an app for your mobile, laptop or tablet which counts the number of steps you take when out on your daily exercise. We are asking all of our volunteers to download the app and join our group, which makes it easy and accurate to track how far you walk whilst on your clean.
Sure thing! This is a great way to spread the word, get more volunteers involved and keep them updated. When you register your clean with us we will send a link to our social assets that you can use to promote the event.
