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Keeping our rivers in ship-shape
About the campaign
Hubbub launched #TreasureYourRiver, a buccaneering pirate-themed campaign, to combat river litter.
In 2019, our polling showed that 3 in 4 people wanted to do more to tackle marine litter. 80% of the litter in our oceans comes from land, flowing there from rivers and waterways. So stopping litter wherever you are helps reduce litter that reaches the sea.
Treasure Your River set sail in May 2021. Funded by the Coca Cola Foundation, we worked with the Rivers Trust, Keep Wales Tidy, Sustainable Hive, Mersey Rivers Trust, Thames21, Keep Scotland Beautiful, Canal and River Trust, and the Angling Trust. Each of our partners delivered clean-ups and campaign activities, along the rivers Avon, Forth, Mersey, Severn, Thames, and Trent, as well as their tributaries.
Litter picking doesn’t need to be boring. There are savvy ways to make it fun for anyone who wants to help protect the seven seas. We wanted to test a variety of different clean-up activities ranging from plogging events, to remote-controlled pirate ships, to plastic fishing trips around the UK… all with the aim of keeping our rivers and waterways ship-shape. Find out more about the swashbuckling activities we trialled below.
An overview of the activities offered
We trialled a vast range of activities to reclaim our shores; including taking boats, bins and buccaneering events around the UK. From May to October 2021, over a total of 82 clean-up events, more than 1,217 bags of litter were prevented from entering our rivers or plundered from waterways. Over 924 volunteers committed more than 3,455 volunteer hours.
Remote controlled pirate ships
We invited people to help clean up littARRR and fish for hidden treasures by capturing the remote control and commandeering the pirate ships.
Plastic Fishing
We invited crewmates to climb aboard one of the world's first 99% recycled plastic punts. Volunteers joined the battle against litter to loot anything that might be lurking just below the surface. These unique litter picking trips show how ocean plastics are a problem that start at home.
And plenty more...
We trialled litter picks with a twist, including silent disco scavenger hunts and plogging events.
Ghost ship
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