Project Dates: 01.06.24 to 01.06.25

The second year of a project generously enabled by Depeche Mode and Hublot’s Memento Mori Tour charity partnership with the Conservation Collective to tackle plastic pollution.

DEF’s portion of the funding received is being used to support one of our flagship grantees, Till the Coast is Clear, to scale up their vital work recovering plastic pollution from hard-to-reach locations on the South Devon coast.

Since the first round of funding, 20,000+ kgs of marine plastic has been reclaimed from Devon’s coastlines, with an estimated 70% stemming from commercial fishing and shipping gear. They also purchased additional kayaks made from recycled marine plastic to take bigger groups of volunters on clean-up missions, set up new remote waste collection points, hired a new team member, and equipped several local schools with beach cleaning kits.

This second tranche of funding will be used to:

• add more remote coastal plastic waste collection points for pollution cleaned up by the general public
• distribute coast clean up equipment to more local groups
• develop the Circular Adventures initiative
• recruit new volunteers across all TTCIC’s environmental initiatives
• and progress with the conversion of the vintage wooden motor cruiser, Dolphin, into a community-owned electric vessel to provide nature immersion experiences on the Kingsbridge Salcombe estuary nature reserve.

Read about year one of the funding HERE.

IMPACT SUMMARY

See mini impact update from year one HERE.

JANUARY 2025:

• New cobranded signage to help increase public participation in pollution clean up activity & to reduce contamination of recyclables with food and dog waste.
• Implemented a very successful crowdfunding campaign supported by DEF and the approval of a grant from South Hams District Council.
• The project has invested in a 4×4 vehicle to increase its ability to reach difficult to access coastal sites in poor weather and support other community and nature regeneration projects including towing the Whale Structure (Whaley) to a wider range of locations.
• Whaley has been on display at Bantham car park over the festive period, getting great reactions from the public and raising awareness of plastic pollution.

Impact overview:

• Averaging 1,000kgs plastic pollution recovered per quarter across the year.
• Moor to Shore art exhibition of nature inspired work Kingsbridge Market Hall July24.
• Plastic Free July event at The Box Plymouth as main outside exhibit (Whaley) and featured exhibits in 12 month plastic pollution focused gallery exhibition.
• Hosted 12 Raleigh International students for 3 days of plastic pollution and nature recovery education work.
• BBC Spotlight TV featuring marine plastic recycled kayaks and TTCIC work on the Salcombe Estuary.
• Force4Nature project continues to go from strength to strength and is held in 16 venues.